'"""^'^  «a  the  .,„,,, 


YOUTH   AND 
THE   CHURCH 

A  Manual  for  Teachers  and 

Leaders  of  Intermediates, 

Seniors  and  Young 

People 

By 

CYNTHIA    PEARL    MAUS 

Young  People's  Division  Superintendent,  Department  of 

Religious  Education  of  the  United  Christian 

Missionary  Society 

Fourth  Edition 


CINCINNATI 

THE   STANDARD  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 


Copyright,    1919 
The  Standard  Publishing  Company 


This  book  is  affectionately  dedicated  to  my 

mother  and  father, 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  R.  D.  Maus 


FOREWORD  AND  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

'T'HE  problem  of  religious  education  in  all  its 
phases  has  been  given  wider  consideration 
during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  than  in  all 
the  rest  of  the  reformation  period  combined. 
There  is  hardly  a  type  of  work  in  the  realm  of 
Christian  education  upon  which  one  or  more  books 
have  not  been  written. 

The  standards  recently  adopted  by  the  Sunday 
School  Council  of  Evangelical  Denominations  for 
work  with  young  people  in  the  local  church  call 
forth  another  which  the  author  hopes  may  be  at 
least  suggestive  to  churches  desiring  to  unify  the 
leadership  and  correlate  the  program  of  Christian 
education  for  the  youth  of  the  church. 

In  the  preparation  of  this  manual  for  teachers 
of  Intermediate,  Senior  and  Young  People's 
classes  the  author  gratefully  acknowledges  her 
indebtedness  to  the  works  of  Professors  Coe, 
Starbuck,  Athearn,  Weigle,  King  and  Butler;  to 
Dr.  Ward  C.  Cramp  ton  and  Margaret  Slattery;  to 
Messrs,  Hartshorne,  Alexander  and  Foster;  to  the 
published  questionnaire  and  replies  presented  by 
Dr.  Wade  Crawford  Barclay  to  the  members  of 
the  Sunday  School  Council;  and  to  the  ''Canadian 

5 


FOREWORD  AND  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

Standard  of  Efficiency  Tests  for  Boys,"  ''Canadian 
Girls  in  Training,"  and  the  ''American  Standard 
Program  for  Boys." 

Besides  such  acknowledgments  as  are  made  in 
the  text,  the  author  wishes  to  express  her  thanks 
to  the  members  of  the  Young  People's  Work  Com- 
mittee of  the  Sunday  School  Council;  to  the  Sec- 
ondary Division  Council  of  the  Bible  School  De- 
partment of  the  American  Christian  Missionary 
Society;  and  to  a  host  of  friends  and  teachers  of 
young  people  the  continent  over,  whose  conference 
and  co-operation  has  made  possible  this  book. 
To  all  who  have  helped  in  any  way,  the  author  is 
deeply  grateful.  c.  p.  m. 

Cincinnati,  0.,  Jan.  1,  1919. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction _ _...._ _ _ 11 

I 
The  Reorganized  Secondary  Division 17 

II 
The  Intermediate  Department  .._ 36 

III 

The  Senior  Department  .._ _ 56 

IV 
The  Young  People's  Department  .._ _...._ 75 

V 

The  Organized  Secondary  Division  Class 93 

VI 

A  Fourfold  Program  for  Developing  Life 110 

VII 

Graded  Worship  _ _ _ _ 125 

VIII 
Graded  Instruction  .._ _ _ _ 144 

7 


CONTENTS 


IX 

Graded  Expression __ 160 

X 

The  Ultimate  Goal 177 

Bibliography   _ 185 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING 
PAGE 

Building  Plan  I.,  for  School  of  100  11 

Building  Plan  III.,  for  School  of  150  _ 17 

Building  Plan  XIV.,  for  School  of  250 36 

An  Attractive  Intermediate  Department  41 

Movable   Assembly-room    Chair,    with   Folding 
Arm    - 71 

Classroom  Screens  75 

Tablet   Arm-chair   87 

A   Community   Class   of  Teachers   Specializing 
in  Work  with  Teen-age  Girls  92 

Moulthrop  Table-chair  Desk  102 

Credit  Cards  and  Records  _ 106 

Building  Plan  XXXVII 125 

An  Intermediate  Worship  Assembly 128 

Building  Plan  XL VII.,  First  Floor 146 

Building  Plan  XL VII.,  Second  Floor 147, 

Geography   Class - 164 

9 


Beginners 

PR-IMARY    j        e^.iMT        I      JUNIOFLS 


PLAN  I.* 
R.   H.   Hunt,   Architect,    Chattanooga,    Tennessee. 
Plan    I.    is    an    improvement    and    enlargement    of    the    traditional 
one-room  building.      It  offers  fair  equipment  for  schools  numbering 
fifty  to   one   hundred. 


*P.  E.  Burroughs,  Church  and  Svmday  School  Buildings   (p.  43), 


INTRODUCTION 

THE  task  of  Christian  education  and  evangeli- 
zation is  coming  more  and  more  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  work  of  the  church.  Separate  or- 
ganizations (Brotherhoods;  missionary,  aid  and 
young  people's  societies;  young  ladies'  circles  and 
guilds,  triangle  clubs  and  mission  bands)  are 
gradually  being  submerged  in  the  larger  life  of 
the  church  itself. 

Indeed,  so  far  has  this  idea  of  unification  and 
correlation  progressed  that  many  churches  are  now 
organizing  all  their  educational,  evangelistic,  mis- 
sionary and  benevolent  work  on  the  basis  of  de- 
partments of  church  life,  rather  than  on  the  basis 
of  a  half-dozen  or  more  unrelated  and  more  or 
less  independent  organizations.  It  is  indeed  a 
hopeful  sign,  for  the  church — not  Brotherhoods; 
missionary,  aid  and  young  people's  societies;  cir- 
cles, guilds,  bands  and  clubs — is  the  instrument 
that  Jesus  founded  and  through  which  his  King- 
dom-building enterprise  is  to  be  carried  to  the  last 
man,  woman  and  child  in  the  world. 

The  church  contains  people  of  all  ages.  The 
young,  not  yet  old  enough  for  formal  membership 
in  the  body  of  Christ,  but  who  are  being  nurtured 

11 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

by  the  church  into  the  likeness  of  Christ,  are  they 
not  the  children  of  the  church?  Rapidly  maturing 
boys  and  girls  and  young  people  making  their  life 
choices,  accepting  Jesus  as  a  personal  Saviour  and 
Guide,  being  trained  for  and  enlisted  in  His  ser- 
vice, are  they  not  the  youth  of  the  church?  The 
men  and  women  of  maturer  years,  carrying  the  full 
burden  of  responsibility  for  the  evangelization  and 
Christianization  of  the  wide,  wide  world,  are  they 
not  the  men  and  women  of  the  church?  Why,  then, 
the  need  of  separate  men's  and  women's,  young 
people's,  boys'  and  girls'  and  children's  organiza- 
tions, related  to,  but  not  necessarily  including,  the 
whole  body  of  the  church?  Can  not  the  church, 
organized  on  the  basis  of  departments  of  church 
life,  each  departmental  group  corresponding  to  a 
natural  life  period  and  administered  under  one 
leadership  and  supervision,  carry  on  all  the  edu- 
cational, evangelistic,  missionary  and  benevolent 
work  of  the  church  without  a  multiplicity  of  more 
or  less  independent,  unrelated  and  uncorrelated 
organizations  ? 

There  is  a  constantly  increasing  belief  on  the 
part  of  the  churches  of  Christ  everywhere  that 
such  a  program  of  organization  would  forward  the 
work  of  the.  Kingdom  for  all  time.  Suppose  it 
should  mean  the  loss  of  some  of  the  terms  that 
through  the  years  we  have  grown  accustomed  to  and 
that  are  dear  to  us;  would  it  matter  much,  if, 
through  such  a  unification  and  correlation  of  all  the 

12 


INTRODUCTION 


agencies  of  Christian  education  and  evangelization, 
the  work  of  the  Kingdom  of  our  Master  went  in- 
creasingly on? 

Personally  the  author  would  be  willing  to  see 
the  terms  '^Sunday  school,"  ''Endeavor  society," 
''mission  band,"  "circle,"  "triangle  club,"  etc., 
dear  as  they  are,  disappear  entirely  from  our 
church  nomenclature,  if  in  so  doing  the  term 
"church"  might  come  to  have  an  increasing  inter- 
est, emphasis,  love  and  significance  in  the  lives  of 
young  people.  The  author  has  tested  groups  of 
young  people  in  every  section  of  the  United  States, 
and  has  yet  to  find  a  single  boy  or  girl  in  the 
adolescent  years  who  is  being  trained  to  tJiink  and 
speak  in  terms  of  the  church.  Ask  any  group  of 
church  young  people  anywhere  what  organization 
they  think  of  when  you  say  Christian  education, 
and  they  will  reply,  "The  Sunday  school,"  or 
"The  church  college."  Ask  them  what  term  they 
think  of  when  you  say  training  for  service,  and 
they  will  respond,  "Christian  Endeavor,"  "Epworth 
League,"  or  "Baptist  Young  People's  Union." 
Ask  them  what  organization  they  think  of  when 
you  say  missions,  and  they  will  reply,  "Young 
Ladies'  Circle, "" Mission  Band, "" Triangle  Club," 
etc.  In  five  or  more  years  of  testing  now,  the 
author  has  yet  to  hear  an  individual  or  a  group 
respond,  ' '  The  church ; ' '  and  yet  it  was  the  church, 
not  auxiliary  organizations,  to  which  Jesus  referred 
when  he  said:   "Upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my 

13 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

church,  and  the  gates  of  Hades  shall  not  prevail 
against  it." 

The  natural  units  of  organization  for  correlat- 
ing the  educational,  evangelistic,  missionary  and 
benevolent  work  of  the  church  will  be  found  in  the 
grading  of  the  modern  church  school,  for  the  de- 
partments of  the  church's  school  are  based  upon 
natural  life  periods — the  Cradle  Roll  (infancy),  the 
Beginners  (early  childhood),  the  Primary  (middle 
childhood),  the  Junior  (later  childhood),  the  In- 
termediate (early  adolescence),  the  Senior  (middle 
adolescence),  the  Young  People's  (later  adoles- 
cence), the  Adult  (maturity),  and  the  Home  De- 
partment (the  aged  and  shut-ins).  Why  can  not 
these  departments,  organized  from  the  church  point 
of  view,  properly  supervised,  administered  and 
equipped,  become  the  basis  of  organization  for  all 
that  is  done  by  the  church  for  and  with  each 
natural  group?  The  growing  sentiment  in  favor 
of  the  plan  is  a  healthy  indication  that  a  unified 
and  correlated  program  of  Christian  education 
and  evangelization  is  to  be  the  policy  of  the  church 
of  the  future. 

In  the  chapters  that  follow,  the  author  has 
attempted  to  give  not  only  a  survey  of  the  growth 
and  development  of  organized  work  with  young 
people  in  the  local  church,  but  to  suggest  a  plan 
and  program  by  which  the  educational,  evangel- 
istic, missionary  and  benevolent  work  of  the  church 
with   its  youth   may  be  unified   and   correlated   in 

14 


INTRODUCTION 


such  a  way  as  to  make  the  church,  and  not  auxil- 
iary organizations,  central  in  the  thinking  of  boys 
and  girls  and  young  people. 

With  the  hope  that  pastors,  church  officers  and 
teachers  and  leaders  of  young  people  may  find, 
in  the  chapters  that  follow,  some  suggestions  that 
will  guide  them  in  working  out  a  unified  and  cor- 
related program  of  Christian  education  for  the 
YOUTH  OF  THE  CHURCH,  this  book  is  respect- 
fully submitted.  Cynthia  Pearl  Maus. 


15 


m 

PORCH 

m          m 

m 

PLAN  III.* 
R.   H.   Hunt,   Architect,   Chattanooga,    Tennessee. 

In  Plan  III.  we  have  an  extension  of  Plan  I.,  two  rooms  being 
added  on  each  side  of  the  auditorium.  This  plan  provides  nine 
classrooms  and  offers  ample  provision  for  schools  enrolling  one 
hnindred    and   iifty. 


P.  E.  Burroughs,   Ohurch  and  SwndLay  School  Buildings   (p.  45). 


THE  REORGANIZED  SECONDARY  DIVISION 

IN  order  to  fully  understand  the  ''why"  of  the 
new  group  organizations  among  young  people, 
it  will  be  necessary  to  think  through  together  the 
growth  and  development  of  the  educational  work 
of  the  church  through  its  church  school,  for  the 
Secondary  Division  of  the  church's  school,  like 
every  other  division,  has  grown  through  a  period 
of  eight  or  ten  years  to  its  present  development. 
Just  as  the  years  from  1902-1908  mark  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  Elementary  Division,,  and  the  years 
from  1905-1914  the  evolution  of  the  Adult  Division, 
BO  also  the  years  from  1907-1917  mark  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  present  reorganized  Secondary  Division. 
Prior  to  the  year  1900,  departments  were  un- 
known in  the  Sunday-school  world.  The  great 
majority  of  schools  maintained  a  Primary  or  "in- 
fants' "  class  with  pupils  ranging  anywhere  from 
babyhood  to  eight  or  nine  years  of  age;  one  or 
two  boys'  and  girls'  classes;  a  young  people's 
class,  and  one  or  more  adult  classes.  In  1902 
separate  Primary  and  Junior  classes  began  to  be 
agitated,  and  in  1905  the  adult-class  movement 
3  17 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

started  with  everybody  from  sixteen  years  of  age 
on  up  eligible  to  membership.  The  year  1906  saw 
the  appointment  by  the  International  Sunday 
School  Association  of  a  committee  on  Intermediate 
work,  and  soon  after  the  term  ''Intermediate" 
began  to  be  used.  It  was  not,  however,  until  as 
late  as  1908  that  the  term  ''Intermediate  depart- 
ment," as  such,  began  to  be  generally  used.  That 
year  saw  also  the  completion  of  the  present  Ele- 
mentary Division,  with  its  Cradle  Roll,  Beginners, 
Primary  and  Junior  depai'tments. 

In  1909,  because  of  the  large  number  of  boys 
and  girls  who  were  annually  lost  to  the  church's 
school,  the  attention  of  the  Sunday-school  world 
began  to  center  on  the  upper  teens,  which  prior 
to  that  time  had  been  regarded  as  a  part  of  the 
Adult  department;  and  in  1910  a  committee  repre- 
senting the  Intermediate  and  Adult  departments 
of  the  International  Sunday  School  Association  was 
appointed  to  study  and  survey  the  whole  matter. 
This  committee  sent  out  a  questionnaire  to  the 
leading  educators  throughout  North  America,  and 
on  the  basis  of  their  replies  the  Executive  Commit- 
tee of  the  International  Sunday  School  Association 
created  the  Senior  department  (ages  17-20)  and 
made  provision  by  which  the  Intermediate  and 
Senior  departments  were  combined  into  an  Ad- 
vanced Division  to  rank  with  the  Elementary. 

In  1911,  in  order  to  conform  more  nearly  to 
current  educational  nomenclature,  the  International 

18 


REORGANIZED    SECONDARY    DIVISION 

Sunday  School  Convention  at  San  Francisco 
changed  the  name  of  this  new  division  from  *' Ad- 
vanced" to  "Secondary,"  and  on  May  1,  1912, 
Mr.  John  L.  Alexander  was  called  to  become  the 
superintendent/  By  the  San  Francisco  Convention 
this  new  division  was  empowered  to  appoint  a 
commission  to  study  the  whole  problem  of  the  teen 
years,  with  the  understanding  that  the  findings 
were  to  be  published  in  book  form.  Two  volumes, 
''The  Sunday  School  and  the  Teens"  and  ''The 
Teens  and  the  Rural  Sunday  School,"  both  edited 
by  Mr.  Alexander,  are  the  result  of  the  work  of 
that  commission,  and  they  have  been  invaluable  in 
the  evolution   of  the   Secondary   Division. 

In  1910  the  Sunday  School  Council  of  Evan- 
gelical Denominations  was  organized,  and  in  1913 
the  following  agreement  was  entered  into  by  the 
Sunday  School  Council  and  the  International  Sun- 
day School  Association:  "That  the  International 
Sunday  School  Association  and  the  Sunday  School 
Council  of  Evangelical  Denominations  recognize 
it  to  be  the  right  and  responsibility  of  each  de- 
nomination to  determine  standards  for  its  own  Sun- 
day schools."^  Since  that  time  the  Young  Peo- 
ple's Work  Committee  of  the  Sunday  School  Coun- 
cil has  been  at  work  on  more  effective  standards 
for  the  Secondary  Division. 


^  Alexander,  The  Secondary  Division  Organized  for  Service  (pp. 
31.  32,   33). 

^1913  Minutes  of  the  Sunday  School  Council  of  Evangelical  De- 
nominations  (p.   54). 

19 


YOUTH    AND   THE    CHURCH 

During  the  years  from  1912  to  1917  several  dif- 
ferent forms  of  departmental  organization  within 
the  old  Secondary  Division  (ages  thirteen  to 
twenty)  were  experimented  with,  with  varying  re- 
sults. The  majority  of  schools  had  what  was 
known  as  an  Intermediate  department  (ages  thir- 
teen to  sixteen)  and  a  Senior  department  (ages 
seventeen  to  twenty).  Other  schools  grouped  all 
the  pupils  from  thirteen  to  twenty  into  one  depart- 
ment known  as  the  teen-age  or  high-school  depart- 
ment; and  still  other  schools  had  what  was  known 
as  a  boys'  department  (ages  thirteen  to  twenty), 
under  a  man  superintendent,  usually;  and  a  girls' 
department  (ages  thirteen  to  twenty),  under  a 
woman  superintendent,  usually. 

It  was  the  author's  privilege  during  a  five- 
year  period  to  test  out  to  a  greater  or  less  degree 
each  of  these  three  forms  of  departmental  organi- 
zation under  the  old  standard,  and  no  one  of  them 
seemed  adequate  to  meet  the  needs  of  young  peo- 
ple. Sixteen-year-old  girls  especially  were  restless 
and  unsatisfied  in  the  Intermediate  department; 
and  when  girls  reached  the  age  of  eighteen  or 
nineteen  and  put  their  dresses  up  or  down  accord- 
ing to  the  prevailing  style,  they  took  themselves 
out  of  the  Senior,  teen-age  or  girls'  department, 
and  joined  the  young  people's  class.  Boys  of 
twenty-one  and  twenty-two,  who  had  been  duly 
promoted  into  the  young  people's  class,  but  who 
had  a  "crush"  on  some  girl  in  the  middle  teens, 

20 


REORGANIZED    SECONDARY    DIVISION 

refused  to  group  with  young  people,  preferring  to 
remain  in  the  Senior,  teen-age  or  boys'  depart- 
ment. The  experience  of  the  writer  was  not  differ- 
ent from  the  experience  of  nearly  every  other 
worker  with  young  people  on  the  continent.  The 
old  arbitrary  age  limits  of  thirteen  to  sixteen  for 
the  Intermediate  department  and  seventeen  to 
twenty  for  the  Senior  department  would  not  work. 
Pupils  refuse  to  stay  ''put,"  and  there  was  general 
dissatisfaction  with  all  three  of  the  old  depart- 
mental groupings.  And  so,  in  1914,  the  Young 
People's  Work  Committee  of  the  Sunday  School 
Council,  in  joint  conference  with  the  Secondary 
Division  leadership  of  the  International  Sunday 
School  Association,  began  the  task  of  study  and 
investigation  looking  toward  new  standards  for  the 
Secondary  Division  that  would  make  it  possible 
to  meet,  in  a  larger  way,  the  individual  and  group 
needs  of  the  youth  of  the  church. 

All  students  of  child  life  are  agreed  that  in  the 
development  of  life  from  birth  to  the  grave  there 
are  certain  fairly  well-defined  periods  or  epochs. 
These  periods  are  often  referred  to  as  infancy, 
childhood,  youth,  maturity,  etc.  This  is  evidently 
God's  plan  for  developing  life.  It  follows  naturally 
that  those  who  wish  to  deal  successfully  with  life 
must  make  their  plan  and  program  conform  to 
these  more  or  less  clearly  defined  periods  of  de- 
velopment. In  the  field  of  secular  education  these 
life  periods  have  long  been  recognized  in  elemen- 

21 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

tary,  secondary  and  collegiate  schools,  and  the  re- 
cent agitation  in  the  secular  school  world  for  the 
reorganization  of  the  public  schools  of  this  country 
on  the  basis  of  the  six-six  plan — six  years  of  ele- 
mentary education  and  six  years  in  secondary  or 
high  school — is  an  indication  that  the  secular 
schools  are  recognizing  these  life  periods  with  con- 
stantly increasing  efficiency.  The  action  of  the 
Sunday  School  Council  at  its  January  (1917) 
meeting  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  in  changing  the 
scope  of  the  Secondary  Division  of  the  church's 
school  to  cover  the  whole  period  of  adolescence 
(twelve  or  thirteen  to  twenty-four  years),  is  an 
indication  that  the  Sunday-school  world  is  begin- 
ning to  recognize  these  natural  life  periods  with 
ever-increasing  efficiency. 

The  scope  of  the  Secondary  Division  as  it  is 
now  constituted  covers  the  years  from  twelve  or 
thirteen  to  maturity,  and  recognizes  within  that 
scope  three  natural  or  normal  groups:  (1)  The 
Intermediate  department  or  group  (ages  twelve  to 
fourteen  approximately),  (2)  the  Senior  depart- 
ment or  group  (ages  fifteen  to  seventeen  approx- 
imately), and  (3)  the  Young  People's  department 
or  group  (ages  eighteen  to  twenty-four  approxi- 
mately) ;  with  the  understanding  that  the  group- 
ing of  any  particular  pupil  is  not  to  be  determined 
by  age  alone;  the  public-school  grade,  week-day 
social  relations,  mental  and  religious  development, 
are  exceedingly  important  factors   and  are  to  be 

22 


REORGANIZED    SECONDARY    DIVISION 

taken  into  account."  The  groupings  just  referred 
to  are  in  all  cases  to  be  considered  flexible,  thus 
permitting  the  adjustment  of  the  group  to  the 
needs  of  individual  pupils. 

Reasons  for  the  Regrouping. 

PJiysiological:  The  term  "adolescence"  means 
''growing"  or  "maturing,"  and  close  study  and 
observation  show  that  there  are  three  (not  two) 
clearly   marked   stages   of   growth   within   this   ten 

C twelve  year  period. 
The  first  stage  covers  the  years  from  twelve  to 
iiiieen,  and  is  often  referred  to  as  the  organic 
period,  or  early  adolescence.J  During  the  period  of 
childhood  nature  has  been  at  work  building  the 
body  of  a  boy  or  girl.  With  the  period  of  adoles- 
cence there  begins  another  ten  or  twelve  year 
process,  during  the  first  three  or  four  years  of 
which  the  body  of  a  child  becomes  the  body  of  an 
adult. 

pThe  second  stage  covers  the  years  from  fifteen 
to  eighteen  and  is  often  referred  to  as  the  emo- 
tional period  of  middle  adolescence.J  During  these 
years,  nature,  having  built  the  body  of  an  adult, 
installs  in  that  body  the  emotional  nature  of 
maturity. 

Phe  third  stage  covers  the  years  from  eighteen 
to   twenty-three    or   twenty-four   and    is   often    re- 


1  1917  Minutes  of  the  Sunday  School  Cov/ncil  of  Evangelical  De- 
nominations   (pp.    44,   45). 

23 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

ferred  to  as  the  intellectual  period  or  later  adoles- 
cence.'^  During  these  years  the  reason  and  will  cen- 
ters of  the  brain  mature  rapidly,  giving  the  power 
for  independent  thought,  and  balance  to  the  emo- 
tional instability  of  the  middle  teens. 

Of  course,  as  Professor  Athearn  indicates,  ''all 
these  changes  are  going  on  at  once,  but  physical 
changes  are  the  dominant  characteristic  of  the 
first  period ;  emotional  development  characterizes 
the  second  period;  and  intellectual  reconstruc- 
tion is  the  distinguishing  element  in  the  third 
period/'* 

Dr.  Ward  C.  Crampton  says:  "The  greatest 
failure  of  education  to-day  is  its  inability  to  recog- 
nize the  fact  that  sexual  ripening  determines  an 
entirely  new  outlook  upon  life.  The  pubertal 
change  leaves  the  child  a  wholly  different  being, 
different  mentally,  physically  and  morally  from 
children  in  the  stage  left  behind.  * ' '  And  while  no 
arbitrary  grouping  can  ever  be  worked  out  that 
will  determine  with  accuracy  just  when  the  tran- 
sition from  childhood  to  maturity  takes  place 
(There  is  a  very  wide  variance  in  the  pubescent 
period  in  individuals  and  the  sexes.  Girls  usually 
enter  and  pass  through  this  period  anywhere  from 
twelve  to  fifteen  months  earlier  than  boys),  all 
authorities  are  agreed  in  thinking  that  the  years 
from  twelve  to  fifteen  with  boys  and  from  eleven 


^  The   Church  School    (p.    174). 
*King,  The  High  School  Age   (p.  41). 
24 


REORGANIZED    SECONDARY   DIVISION 

to  fourteen  or  fifteen  with  girls  mark  the  transi- 
tional period  of  adolescence.     ) 

"The  basis  of  all  developi^ent  is  physical.  The 
nerves  and  muscles  are  the  instruments  of  the  in- 
tellect, the  feelings  and  the  will;  and  self-control 
and  the  development  of  all  the  higher  moral  and 
intellectual  powers  depend  upon  the  proper  interi 
action  of  nerves  and  muscles. ' ' '  Inasmuch  as  ado-i 
lescence  is  the  age  of  nerve  and  muscle  educationj 
the  Young  People's  Work  Committee  of  the  Sun-' 
day  School  Council  felt  that  the  departmental 
groupings  of  the  youth  of  the  church  ought  as 
nearly  as  possible  to  conform  to  these  natural  life 
periods,  in  order  that  we  might  plan  the  educa- 
tional program  for  youth  in  such  a  way  as  to  de- 
velop the  physical  life  of  each  natural  group  to 
its  "nth"  power.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  a 
strong,  healthy  body  inhibits  wrong  tendencies. 
This  makes  physical  consideration  and  training 
necessary  to  the  full-rounded  development  of  every 
adolescent,  not  for  the  sake  of  the  body  alone, 
but  for  the  sake  of  the  mind  and  heart  as  well. 

Psychological:  The  greatest  problem  of  young 
people  is  to  find  themselves  in  the  world  of  work, 
of  social  enjoyments  and  of  daily  duties.  This 
is  not  only  a  problem  of  adjustment;  it  is  a 
problem  of  building  up  new  personalities  in  which 
shall  be  fused  all  that  is  vital  in  the  world  about 
them  with  that  which  is  unique   and   original,   in 


The  American  Standard  Programi  for  Boys   (p.   31). 
25 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

themselves,  for  in  every  human  being  something 
new,  something  original,  something  individual,  is 
brought  into  the  world.  Education,  as  far  as 
adolescence  is  concerned,  is  possible  for  each  youth 
only  in  so  far  as  it  enables  him  not  merely  to  con- 
form to  life  as  he  finds  it,  but  to  make  it  over  to 
some  extent  in  terms  of  himself. 

The  dominant,  outstanding  characteristic  of 
\adolescence  is  individuality.  "The  normal  adoles- 
\eent  feels  keenly  this  impulse  to  he  himself;  to 
fauestion  all  traditions,  all  assumptions;  to  think 
things  out  for  himself,  whether  it  be  in  the  realm 
of  literature,  of  art,  of  religion,  of  morals,  or  of 
social  duties.  This  impulse  is  God-given,  and  it  is 
good,  even  though  he  may  find  in  the  end  that  his 
conclusions  are  not  so  very  different  from  those  of 
others  about  him;  for  it  is  through  this  impulse  to 
think  for  himself  that  he  finds  himself,  and  proves 
his  right  to  be  a  man  among  men. ' ' ' 

The  basic  reason  for  the  reorganization  of  the 
secular  schools  on  the  basis  of  the  Junior-Senior 
I  high-school  plan  is  that  they  may  contribute  in  a 
(larger  way  to  the  realization  of  this  individuality, 
this  personality  in  the  life  of  maturing  boys  and 
girls. 

During  the  period  of  study  and  investigation 
carried  on  by  the  Sunday  School  Council,  looking 
toward  the  reorganization  of  the  departmental 
groupings  of  the  church's  school,  Dr.  Wade  Craw- 


King,  The  High  School  Age  (p.  95). 
26 


REORGANIZED    SECONDARY   DIVISION 

ford  Barclay  sent  out  a  questionnaire  to  leading 
educators  in  the  public  schools  of  this  country, 
asking  them  to  state  briefly  the  reasons  for  reor- 
ganizing the  public  schools  on  the  Junior-Senior 
high-school  plan.  The  following  quotations  are 
illuminating : 

"To  take  account  of  the  changes  physiological, 
psychological  and  sociological;  to  bridge  the  gap 
a  little  more  completely  between  childhood  and 
early  adulthood ;  to  provide  an  opportunity  to 
find  oneself  in  the  multiplicity  of  interests  of  life.*' 
— C.  0.  Davis,  University  of  Michigan. 

"Identity,  or,  at  least,  similarity  of  physical 
and  mental  traits;  the  consequent  desirability  of 
similar  management  and  discipline;  the  prevalence 
of  certain  common  interests  and  the  resulting  need 
of  similar  material  and  methods  of  instruction; 
greater  likelihood  of  continued  school  attendance 
beyond  the  eighth  year,  because  the  close  of  the 
Junior  high-school  period  comes  after  the  adoles- 
cent has  become  accustomed  to  a  new  state  of  de- 
velopment, in  place  of  coming  just  when  the  phys- 
iological transition  makes  him  most  restless." — 
A.  Duncan  Yocum,  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

"Conforms  to  the  psychological  development  of 
the  child;  makes  the  transition  from  the  elemen- 
tary to  high  school  at  a  less  critical  period ;  makes 
possible  a  greater  diversity  of  work;  greater  adap- 
tation to  the  needs  and  interests  of  pupils;  facil- 
itates the  development  of  the  social  consciousness; 

27 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

democratic;    grants   equality   of   opportunity." — L. 
B.  Rogers y  Lawrence  College. 

But  some  may  raise  the  question:  Are  the  rea- 
sons that  have  led  to  the  formation  of  Junior- 
Senior  high  schools  reasons  that  have  application 
to  the  work  of  the  Sunday  school?  Are  they  suffi- 
cient to  make  desirable  the  formation  of  separate 
departments  in  the  church's  school  to  conform  to 
the  Junior  high  school  (seventh,  eighth  and  ninth 
grades),  and  Senior  high  school  (tenth,  eleventh 
and  twelfth  grades)  1  The  following  quotations, 
taken  from  the  replies  which  Dr,  Barclay  received 
to  that  question,  are  significant: 

''Certainly!  The  Sunday  school  must  adapt 
itself  to  the  nature  of  the  child  and  the  nature  of 
society  exactly  as  does  the  public  school." — L.  W. 
Rapier,  Pennsylvania  State  College. 

''Yes.  The  factor  of  congenial  association  has 
greater  bearing  upon  efficient  work  in  religious 
education  than  it  has  in  secular  education.  The 
force  of  the  demand  is  more  urgent  in  the  Sunday 
school  than  in  secular  schools." — F.  J.  Kelly  y 
University  of  Kansas. 

A  "Yes.  The  question  of  adolescence  determines 
'emotional  maturity  as  well  as  intellectual  maturity, 
and,  in  consequence,  the  child's  interests  and  his 
moral  and  religious  maturity.  Yes !  Emphatically, 
yes!" — TJiomas  M.  Balliety  New  York  University. 

"I  see  no  good  reasons  why  the  Sunday  school 
should   fail   to   recognize  itself   on   a   psychological 

28 


REORGANIZED   SECONDARY   DIVISION 

basis.  The  public  school  sees  the  need  of  differ- 
entiation in  content  and  methods  for  the  years 
twelve,  thirteen  and  fourteen,  which  motion  is 
based  on  psychological  grounds,  and  if  the  psy- 
chology is  well  founded,  then  it  certainly  should 
hold  for  the  Sunday  schools  as  well  as  the  public 
schools." — William  E.  Smythe,  De  Pauw  Univer- 
sity. 

Of  the  forty  public-school  educators  who  replied 
to  this  question,  thirty  held  that  the  reasons  ap- 
plied quite  as  much  in  the  realm  of  religious  as 
of  secular  education. 

The  Junior-Senior  high-school  movement  is 
growing  rapidly  in  the  secular  school  world;  and 
large  numbers  of  cities  and  towns  that  have  not  as 
yet  adopted  the  Junior-Senior  high-school  plan  have 
departmentalized  the  work  of  the  seventh  and 
eighth  grades  so  that  pupils  twelve  and  thirteen 
years  of  age  are  grouping  together  for  study  and 
recreation.  The  public-school  grouping  determines 
very  largely  the  sociological  groupings  for  all  those 
enrolled  in  the  public  schools,  for,  as  boys  and  girls 
group  five  days  a  week  in  the  public  school,  they 
will  tend  to  group  in  the  church's  school. 

It  would  be  unfortunate  in  these  days  of  ex- 
perimentation and  reorganization  in  secular  school 
work  for  the  Sunday  school  to  hold  itself  rigidly 
to  a  rapidly   disappearing  public-school   grouping. 

Sociological:  Practically  all  the  auxiliary  or- 
ganizations  that   touch    the   life    of   young   people 

29 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

from  twelve  to  eighteen  years  of  age  recognize  in 
their  plan  and  program  of  work  these  two  natural 
groups,  the  organic  (12-14),  and  the  emotional 
(15-18).  The  Boys'  Work  department  of  the  Y. 
M.  C.  A.,  the  Girls'  Work  department  of  the  Y. 
W.  C.  A.,  the  Boy  Scouts  movement,  the  Camp- 
fire  Girls  movement,  all  recognize  the  twelfth  year 
as  the  beginning  of  the  transitional  period  from 
childhood  to  early  adulthood,  and  admit  to  mem- 
bership boys  and  girls  twelve  years  of  age  and 
older. 

The  playground  directors  in  cities  and  towns 
recognize  these  two  natural  groupings  (12-14  and 
15-18)  in  planning  their  group  games;  and  physi- 
cal directors  in  the  public  schools  find  it  advan- 
tageous, even  in  cities  and  towns  where  the  Junior- 
Senior  high-school  plan  is  not  in  operation,  to 
group  seventh  and  eighth  grade  pupils  together 
for  recreational  activities. 

Inasmuch  as  all  the  organizations  that  touch 
the  social  life  of  boys  and  girls  in  the  periods  of 
early  and  middle  adolescence  recognize  these 
normal  groupings,  it  seemed  the  part  of  wisdom, 
from  the  viewpoint  of  the  Secondary  Division  lead- 
ership of  the  continent,  for  the  church's  school  to 
conform,  so  that  sociological  groupings  need  not  be 
broken  in  the  church's  educational  program. 

[  Religion  is  a  vital  thing.  It  touches  the  whole 
oi  life  or  it  touches  none  of  life,  for  there  is  no 
piiase  or  interest  of  boy  and  girl  life  that  lies  out- 

I  30 


REORGANIZED    SECONDARY    DIVISION 

side  the  reach  of  the  church  in  Kingdom-building. 
The  church  in  its  outreach  into  the  life  of  youth 
touches  all  life  situations,  physical,  intellectual 
and  social,  as  Avell  as  religious.  It  must  take  into 
account  the  three  great  passions  of  youth — work, 
play  and  love;  and  build  its  program  in  such  a  way 
that  it  will  give  young  people  something  to  dot, 
something  to  think  about,  something  to  enjoy,  somej- 
thing  that  will  enable  them  to  give  themselves  inl 
service.  It  must  co-operate  with  every  other 
agency  that  is  at  work  for  the  physical,  mental, 
moral  and  religious  uplift  of  boys  and  girls,  and, 
in  order  to  do  this  in  the  best  way,  it  must  con- 
form, as  far  as  sociological  groupings  are  con- 
cerned, to  those  adopted  by  other  agencies  that  are 
at  work  in  the  life  of  young  people.  The  new 
groupings  make  it  possible  for  the  church's  school 
to  co-operate  in  the  fullest  way  with  all  other  aux- 
iliary organizations  that  are  working  for  the  social 
betterment  of  young  people. 

General  Principles. 

Quite  as  important  as,  if  not  more  important 
than,  the  regrouping  of  the  Secondary  Division, 
is  the  statement  of  general  principles  that  must 
underlie  all  work  with  young  people.  For  it  is  on 
the  basis  of  this  statement  of  principles,  together 
with  the  more  scientific  grouping,  that  we  are  to 
realize  the  highest  moral  and  spiritual  development 
in  the  life  of  the  youth  of  the  church. 

31 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

The  general  aim  in  all  work  with  young  people 
in  the  church  is  to  produce,  through  worship,  in- 
struction and  training,  the  highest  type  of  Chris- 
tian manhood  and  womanhood,  expressing  itself  in 
right  living  and  efficient  serving.'  As  over  against 
the  aim,  let  us  face  squarely  the  existing  condi- 
tions. 

The  most  outstanding  need  on  the  part  of  the 
youth  of  the  church  to-day  is  for  the  unification 
and  correlation  of  all  the  organizations  that  are  at 
work  with  young  people  in  our  modern  church  life. 
More  and  more  as  one  goes  in  and  out  among  the 
churches  is  he  made  to  feel  this  need;  for  it  is  not 
an  uncommon  thing  to  find  anywhere  from  six  to 
a  dozen  organizations,  all  clamoring  for  the  loyalty 
and  support  of  the  same  group  of  young  people. 
The  author  has  in  her  possession,  clipped  from  the 
church  bulletin  of  one  of  the  largest  churches  in 
the  State  of  Indiana,  an  announcement  of  twenty 
different  meetings,  within  a  given  month,  of  twenty 
different  organizations,  all  of  them  at  work  with 
young  people  between  the  ages  of  thirteen  and 
thirty.  No  wonder  that  the  average  young  person 
has  no  church  conscience!  The  building  of  a 
church  conscience  is  an  absolute  impossibility 
under  conditions  like  that. 

Young  people  are  being  literally  pulled  to  pieces 
by  the  numerous  appeals  for  membership  and  ser- 


^1917  Minutes  of  the  Sunday  School  Council   of  Evangelical  De- 
nominations  ( p .  45). 

32 


REORGANIZED   SECONDARY   DIVISION 

vice  that  come  to  them  from  all  the  different  or- 
ganizations that  are  attempting  to  do  work  with 
young  people  in  the  local  church.  At  the  present 
time,  with  all  the  multiplicity  of  organizations,  we 
have  in  our  churches  groups  of  young  people  with 
a  smattering  of  information  in  regard  to  the  Bible, 
a  smattering  of  information  in  regard  to  missions, 
a  smattering  of  training  in  the  culture  of  the  devo- 
tional life;  but  not  a  single  group  anywhere  that 
has  an  adequate  knowledge  of  the  world  task  and 
the  world  program  of  the  church.  Through  the 
very  multiplicity  of  organizations,  each  stressing 
some  particular  phase  of  the  church's  activity, 
we  are  producing  groups  of  young  people  that  are 
intellectual  snobs.  They  are  a  mile  high  on  some 
subjects  and  an  inch  wide  on  others.  They  are  as 
sharp  as  the  point  of  a  cambric  needle  on  some 
particular  phase  of  church  work,  and  as  ignorant 
as  the  heathen  on  every  other  phase  of  the  church's 
world  program. 

The  youth  of  the  church  need  a  unified  and 
correlated  program  of  Christian  education  in  which 
impression  and  expression  are  not  separated  as 
they  are  now,  when  one  organization  is  attempting 
to  teach,  while  other  organizations  train  for  ser- 
vice. TeacJiing  and  training  go  Tiand  in  Jiand. 
They  may  not  be  separated.  You  can  not  teach 
witJiout  training,  and  you  can  not  train  without 
teacJiing.  Impression  plus  expression  is  tJie  edu- 
cative process. 

s  33 


YOUTH    AND   THE    CHURCH 

When  we  shall  come  to  have  one  organization 
by  which  and  through  which  each  natural  group 
of  young  people  shall  be  trained  both  to  know  and 
to  do  the  whole  will  of  God,  then,  and  then  only, 
will  we  have  groups  of  young  people  who  see  the 
whole  task  of  the  church  in  its  program  of  world 
redemption. 

The  new  standards  for  grading  and  grouping 
adolescent  boys  and  girls  not  only  recognize  the 
organic,  emotional  and  intellectual  needs  of  ado- 
lescence; conform,  as  far  as  the  periods  of  early 
and  middle  adolescence  are  concerned,  with  the 
Junior-Senior  high-school  plan;  but  make  it  pos- 
sible for  the  first  time  to  organize  the  youth  of  the 
church  for  adequate  Christian  service.  The  stand- 
ards as  approved  by  the  Sunday  School  Council 
face  squarely  this  problem  of  a  divided  interest,  a 
divided  energy,  a  divided  loyalty,  and  the  tre- 
mendous loss  resulting  from  it;  and  suggest  the 
following  plan  by  which  we  may  unify  overlapping 
organizations  and  correlate  the  program  of  wor- 
ship, instruction  and  expression  for  each  normal 
group : 

''That  the  ideal  (goal  toward  which  we  should 
work)  is  one  inclusive  organization  in  the  local 
cJiurcJi  for  each  normal  group  of  adolescents — 
Intermediate,  Senior  and  Young  People.  That 
each  of  these  organizations  should  provide  all  the 
necessary  worship,  instruction  and  training  through 
departments  made  up  of  classes,  the  classes  to  be 

34 


REORGANIZED    SECONDARY   DIVISION 

organized  for  specific  tasks  and  individual  train- 
ing; the  departments  organized  for  group  activi- 
ties and  for  the  cultivation  of  the  devotional  life 
through  prayer,  praise,  testimony,  and  other  forms 
of  self-expression. 

''That  in  churches  where  there  already  exists 
a  Sunday  school,  young  people's  societies,  and 
other  organizations  for  adolescents,  the  work  of 
these  organizations  be  correlated  in  such  a  way  as 
to  be  complemental,  not  conflicting  and  competing. 

"For  this  purpose  there  should  be  in  each  group 
a  committee  composed  of  the  presidents  and  teach- 
ers of  classes,  the  officers  of  the  various  organiza- 
tions involved,  the  pastor  and  any  advisory 
officers  appointed  by  the  local  church.  These  com- 
mittees, in  conference  with  those  charged  with  the 
work  of  religious  education  in  the  local  church,  to 
determine  the  program  of  study  and  activities,  in 
order  to  prevent  overlapping  and  duplication  of 
effort. 

"That  the  program  of  study  and  activities  for 
adolescence  be  such  as  to  develop  them  on  all  sides 
of  their  nature — physical,  intellectual,  social  and 
religious.  It  should  include  Bible  study  and  cor- 
related subjects,  the  cultivation  of  the  devotional 
life,  training  for  leadership,  and  service  through 
stewardship,  recreation,  community  work,  citizen- 
ship, evangelism  and  missions.'*^ 


^  1917  Minutes  of  the  Svmday  School  OowncU  of  Evangelical  De- 
nominations  (pp.  46,  47). 

35 


II 

THE  INTERMEDIATE  DEPARTMENT 

WE  are  to  consider  in  this  chapter  the  Inter- 
mediate department  (ages  twelve  to  fourteen 
approximately) — its  pupils,  aims,  organization, 
program,  equipment  and  standards. 

Intermediate  Pupils. 

The  twelfth  birthday  marks,  in  a  general  way, 
the  door  through  which  boys  and  girls  pass  from 
the  period  of  childhood  into  the  period  of  adoles- 
cence, to  emerge  some  ten  or  twelve  years  later 
into  the  maturity  of  adulthood. 

PJiysically  the  years  from  twelve  to  fourteen 
are  characterized  by  a  remarkable  physical  growth. 
The  heart  enlarges,  the  bones  lengthen,  the  shoul- 
ders broaden,  the  muscles  solidify,  and  the  organs 
of  reproduction  come  to  maturity,  for  it  is  in  these 
years  that  God  takes  the  boy  and  girl  into  part- 
nership with  himself  in  the  perpetuation  of  the 
human  race.  The  functioning  of  the  sex  organs 
is  physical,  but  its  effects  are  nearly  always 
accompanied  by  mental,  emotional  and  spiritual 
upheavals.     Uneven   growth,   awkwardness,   erratic 

36 


o  -  o         p  ^  o 

JUNIOR  DCFAf^TPIEMT 

onnno       rrxYr^ 


190QOQ0 
(30QOCE 

Ji  BOYS  IS-i'* 


PLAN  XIV.* 
Frank  L.  Smith,  Architect,  Lexington,  Kentucky. 

In  Plan  XIV.  there  is  shown  a  good  combination  for  convenience 
and  economy.  The  Beginners,  Primaries  and  Juniors  have  their 
own  department  rooms,  so  that  they  may  conduct  worship  without 
disturbing  the  other  departments.  The  Intermediates  are  provided 
with  rooms  which  have  solid  walls,  as  the  classroom  seems  to  be  of 
paramount  importance  at  this  age.  This  type  of  building  would 
easily   care   for   a   school   enrolling   two   hundred   and   fifty. 


^P.  E.  Burroughs,  Chv/rch  and  Simday  School  Buildings   (p.   59), 


THE  INTERMEDIATE  DEPARTMENT 

temperament,  loud  and  boisterous  conduct,  are  the 
outward  manifestations  of  this  inward  growth  and 
development.  There  is  more  blood  in  the  body  dur- 
ing these  years  than  there  has  been  before,  and  it 
is  a  degree  warmer  in  temperature.  No  wonder 
Dr.  Lowry,  in  speaking  of  girls  in  this  period, 
said:  ''God  bless  the  tomboys;  I  wish  there  were 
more  of  them. ' ' '  What  does  he  mean  ?  Simply 
this :  that  the  tomboy  girl,  who  through  her  stren- 
uous exercise  keeps  rich  red  blood  surging  through 
veins  and  arteries,  is  far  less  likely  to  temptation 
than  the  quiet  type  of  girl  who  sits  all  day  long 
curled  up  in  a  corner  with  a  book  in  her  hands. 
Plenty  of  good,  wholesome  physical  exercise  is  im- 
perative in  the  early  teens,  if  the  mind  and  heart 
are  to  be  kept  clean  and  pure  and  wholesome.  Wise 
indeed  is  the  Sunday-school  teacher  who  uses  the 
through-the-week  meetings  of  the  class  to  minister 
to  this  need  for  directed  physical  recreation. 

Intellectually  this  period  is  often  the  exact 
counterpart  of  the  physical  life,  for  the  same  er- 
ratic tendencies  are  manifest.  The  body  seems  to 
grow  at  the  expense  of  the  brain,  or  the  brain  at 
the  expense  of  the  body.  The  ability  to  stick  to 
one  thing  is  not  a  marked  characteristic.  The  in- 
terests of  life  are  broadening  with  such  rapidity 
and  in  so  many  different  ways  that  there  seems 
not  enough  either  of  time  or  of  energy  to  see  and 
do  all  the  things  that  are  clamoring  for  attention. 


^Herself   (p.   133). 

37 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

It  is  a  period  of  individuation  resulting  from  the 
new  self-assertion,  the  new  independence,  the  new 
consciousness  of  self.  As  a  result,  authority  for 
the  first  time  is  questioned.  Boys  and  girls  now 
begin  to  look  upon  themselves  as  of  some  value  to 
society.  Their  deeds  are  worth  something,  their 
individual  opinions  are  of  value,  their  conclusions 
are  worthy  of  consideration.  Why,  then,  should 
they  submit  without  a  question  to  the  authority 
of  others? 

The  chief  mental  characteristic  of  this  period 
has  been  termed  by  Miss  Slattery  as  longing.  Boys 
and  girls  live  two  lives — the  one  visible,  in  which 
they  perform  the  ordinary  duties  and  responsibil- 
ities of  every-day  life;  the  other  life  is  out  there 
in  the  land  of  dreams,  where  the  boy  or  girl  is 
the  center  of  things,  doing  great  deeds  in  the  world 
of  achievement.  It  is  out  of  this  longing,  perhaps, 
that  the  insatiable  appetite  for  reading  grows,  for 
this  is  the  period  when  the  reading  craze  is  at  its 
height.  What  a  splendid  opportunity  is  here  af- 
forded the  Sunday-school  teacher,  for  it  is  a  well- 
known  fact  that  the  "book  friendships"  of  the 
early  teens  are  but  a  degree  less  potential  in  their 
influence  on  life  than  personal  friendships,  and 
they  are  often  more  lasting. 

Socially  the  years  from  twelve  to  fourteen  are 
characterized  by  the  awakening  of  the  social  in- 
stincts. This  may  be  seen  not  only  in  the  gangs 
and    teams    that    are    organized    for    out-of-door 

38 


THE  INTERMEDIATE  DEPARTMENT 

sports,  but  in  the  classes  and  clubs,  the  cliques  and 
sets  that  are  organized  under  almost  every  con- 
ceivable condition  and  for  almost  every  thinkable 
purpose.  Boys  and  girls  in  this  period  do  very 
little  alone.  They  just  naturally  attach  them- 
selves to  other  young  people.  A  strong  person- 
ality will  attract  others  to  itself.  At  first  the 
sexes  draw  apart,  but  toward  the  end  of  the 
period  they  begin  to  get  together.  From  the  fif- 
teenth year  on  they  mingle  naturally  and  normally 
in  one  another's  society.  The  high  tide  of  inter- 
est in  organizations,  as  expressed  in  groups  and 
gangs,  comes  at  about  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth 
year.  A  study  of  the  periods  of  early  and  middle 
adolescence  shows  that  86  per  cent,  of  the  purely 
voluntary  organizations  are  to  be  found  in  the 
years  from  twelve  to  fourteen;  and  that  82  per 
cent,  of  all  the  organizations  formed  within  this 
period  are  for  physical  activities,  indicating  that 
the  demand  for  physical  expression  is  easily  domi- 
nant. The  organized  Intermediate  department, 
and  the  organizations  of  each  class  within  the  de- 
partment, afford  a  splendid  opportunity  to  satisfy 
this  need  for  organized  activity. 

Religiously  this  period  is  of  unusual  im- 
portance, since  so  large  a  number  of  boys  and 
girls  unite  with  the  church  during  these  years. 
Mere  forms  of  religion — the  religion  of  childhood 
is  very  largely  a  matter  of  custom  and  habit — now 
lose  their  attractiveness,  and  youth  begins  to  seek 

39 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

the  inner  spiritual  meaning  behind  these  outward 
forms,  ''With  the  birth  of  a  new  self-conscious- 
ness, there  comes  also  the  birth  of  the  new  con- 
sciousness of  God  and  of  things  religious."  Inter- 
mediate boys  and  girls  are  deeply  and  truly  relig- 
ious. They  are  often  boisterous,  impulsive,  impatient 
of  restraint,  apparently  unresponsive,  and  yet  within 
them  is  the  grace  of  God.  Their  religion  is  not  the 
religion  of  maturity.  ''It  has  the  same  boundless 
energy  and  enthusiasm  of  all  the  other  interests 
of  these  years.  It  is  a  religion  of  deeds,  not 
words.''  It  does  not  normally  express  itself  in  the 
form  of  testimony  meetings;  the  testimonies  of 
boys  and  girls  manifest  themselves  in  deeds  of  love 
and  devotion.  Opportunities,  therefore,  for  ex- 
pression that  lie  within  the  range  of  the  interests 
and  abilities  of  pupils  must  be  given  if  they  are  to 
grow  in  grace  and  in  favor  with  God  and  man. 

Department  Aims. 

In  order  that  we  may  be  clearly  conscious  of 
the  ultimate  goal  of  all  work  with  Intermediate 
pupils,  it  is  essential  to  have  not  only  a  clearly  de- 
fined aim  or  goal  for  the  educational  work  of  the 
church,  but  for  each  department — the  department 
aim  to  serve  as  a  stepping-stone  in  the  realization 
of  the  ultimate  aim.  Briefly  expressed,  the  edu- 
cational aim  of  the  church  through  its  church 
school  is  to  "produce,  through  worship,  instruc- 
tion  and   training,   the   highest   type   of    Christian 

40 


THE  INTERMEDIATE  DEPARTMENT 

manhood  and  womanhood  expressing  itself  in  right 
living  and  efficient  service."  It  is  well,  therefore, 
in  the  very  beginning  of  our  consideration  of  the 
work  of  the  Intermediate  department,  to  ask,  What 
is  the  aim  of  this  department  with  relation  to  the 
larger  educational  aim  of  the  church  through  its 
church  school  ? — that  there  may  be  a  clearly  defined 
goal  toward  which  the  work  of  the  department 
may  progress. 

Of  necessity  the  answer  to  this  question  must 
grow  out  of  the  life  needs  of  the  pupils,  for  they 
are  the  plastic  clay  which  we  must  mold  into  men 
and  women  whose  chief  passion  and  purpose  shall 
be  the  building  of  the  Kingdom  of  G-od.  Viewed 
from  the  life  needs  of  boys  and  girls,  and  the 
growth  of  the  Kingdom,  the  aims  of  the  Intermedi- 
ate department  may  be  summarized  as  follows: 

1.  To  secure  the  acceptance  of  Jesus  Christ  as 
a  personal  Saviour.  The  studies  of  Coe  and  Star- 
buck  show  that  this  period  is  the  period  of  the  first 
religious  awakening.  The  aim  of  the  department,, 
therefore,  should  be  to  win  each  life  for  God  at 
the  very  beginning  of  this  first  religious  awakening. 

2.  To  cultivate  an  ever-increasing  knowledge  of 
Christian  ideals  and  of  the  Bible  as  the  source  of 
these  ideals. 

3.  To  secure  on  the  part  of  boys  and  girls  a 
personal  acceptance  and  open  acknowledgment  of 
these  ideals  in  their  daily  life,  through  Bible  study, 
prayer,   Christian  conduct,   recreation  and  service. 

41 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

4.  To  awaken  in  boys  and  girls  a  growing  ap- 
preciation of  the  privileges  and  opportunities  of 
church  membership,  that  they  may  come  to  have  a 
deep  and  genuine  reverence  for  the  Lord's  day 
and  the  Lord's  house. 

5.  To  secure  an  all-round  development  through 
the  cultivation  of  the  social  consciousness  and  the 
expression  of  the  physical,  intellectual,  social  and 
religious  life  in  service  for  others.' 

At  least  once  a  year  the  department  counselor 
(superintendent)  and  teachers  should  check  up 
the  work  that  is  being  done  in  the  department, 
to  see  how  largely  these  results  are  being  accom- 
plished in  the  lives  of  individual  pupils. 

Organization. 

To  meet  the  social  and  group  instincts  of  adoles- 
cents many  types  of  organization  have  been  tried 
with  varying  results.  Of  them  all,  the  organized 
department  with  its  organized  classes  is  the  most 
acceptable.  A  fully  organized  department  for  both 
Intermediate  (12-14)  and  Senior  (15-17)  pupils  is 
not  always  possible  because  of  the  smallness  of  the 
group  or  the  architectural  inadequacy  of  the  church 
building.  In  such  churches  it  is  advisable  to  com- 
bine in  a  boys'  and  girls'  (or  high  school)  depart- 
ment all  the  pupils  from  twelve  or  thirteen  to 
seventeen  years  of  age.     Better  results  will  be  ob- 


^1917  Minutes  of  the  Stunday  School  Council   of  Evangelical  De- 
nominations  (p.  45). 

42 


THE  INTERMEDIATE  DEPARTMENT 

tained,  however,  if  pupils  in  the  periods  of  early 
and  middle  adolescence  can  be  grouped  in  two 
diiferent  departments. 

The  simplest  form  of  organization  is  to  be  de- 
sired for  this  department  because  of  its  flexibility 
and  ease  of  operation.  Three  or  four  officers,  a 
few  standing  committees  and  many  short-lived 
ones,  each  with  its  specific  duty  to  perform,  are 
preferable  to  a  more  elaborate  organization.  A 
half-year  term  of  office,  with  the  possibility  of  but 
two  terms  in  succession,  will  bring  more  pupils 
into  official  relation  with  the  department  and  act 
as  a  stimulus  to  a  progressive  program.  The  more 
pupils  who  have  a  chance  to  be  trained  in  action, 
the  stronger  the  life  of  the  department  will  be- 
come, and  the  greater  the  interest  the  young  peo- 
ple themselves  will  have  in  the  department.  The 
diagram  on  page  55  suggests  a  simple  form  of 
departmental  organization  that  may  be  adapted 
to  meet  the  needs  of  any  group  of  young  people  in 
the  local  church.  If  desired,  a  constitution  may 
be  formulated  and  adopted  and  a  department 
motto,  song  and  pennant  selected. 

Where  the  building  permits,  there  should  be  a 
separate  department  assembly-room,  providing  op- 
portunity for  both  training  and  expression  in  wor- 
ship under  normal  conditions,  when  the  immature 
are  meeting  alone  with  none  to  observe  except  their 
teacher  friends  and  the  department  counselor.  The 
president  should  preside  over  all  meetings  of  the 

43 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

department,  under  the  direction  of  the  counselor, 
unless  that  work  has  been  delegated  for  the  day  to 
some  other  person  or  group.  If  the  department 
session  of  the  church  school  is  one  hour  in  length, 
twenty  minutes  should  be  given  to  the  worship 
program  and  forty  minutes  to  the  class  period. 
If  an  hour  and  a  quarter  is  used,  the  closing  ser- 
vice of  this  department,  if  desired,  may  be  com- 
bined with  the  Senior,  Young  People's  and  Adult 
departments,  thus  making  it  possible  for  the  school 
to  be  together  for  a  brief  closing  service.  If  the 
arrangement  of  the  church  building  does  not  per- 
mit of  departmental  assemblies,  the  worship  ser- 
vice of  the  Intermediate  group  may  be  combined 
with  that  of  the  older  departments.  Where  such 
adjustments  must  be  made,  however,  responsibility 
for  conducting  the  worship  service  from  week  to 
week,  or  month  to  month,  may  profitably  be 
rotated  among  the  various  departments  combined, 
thus  affording  some  opportunity  for  grading  the 
worship,  and  for  the  development  of  initiative  and 
leadership  on  the  part  of  each  normal  group. 

In  addition  to  the  church  school's  session  of 
this  department,  there  may  be  a  meeting  on  Sun- 
day afternoon  or  evening.  The  Christian  Endeavor 
topics  and  correlated  temperance  and  missionary 
instruction  may  be  made  the  basis  of  study  and 
worship  for  these  meetings,  just  as  graded  lessons 
are  made  the  basis  of  the  church  school's  program. 
Other    through-the-week    meetings    of    the    depart- 

44 


THE  INTERMEDIATE  DEPARTMENT 

ment  should  be  planned  for  from  time  to  time,  for 
the  expression  of  the  physical,  intellectual,  social 
and  religious  life  of  boys  and  girls.  See  Chapters 
VI.  and  IX.  for  plans  and  materials. 

Correlation. 

In  churches  where  there  already  exist  a  de- 
partmental Sunday  school  and  one  or  more  socie- 
ties of  Christian  Endeavor,  each  attempting  to 
build  a  program  for  the  religious  training  of 
young  people,  there  is  always  more  or  less  of  over- 
lapping both  in  organizations  and  in  activities.  In 
order  to  avoid  this  duplication  and  to  provide  an 
adequate  program  of  Christian  education  for  young 
people,  the  leadership  of  these  organizations  should 
be  unified  and  the  program  of  worship,  instruction 
and  training  correlated.  All  that  is  necessary  to 
bring  this  much-desired  result  to  pass  is  for  the 
two  organizations  of  corresponding  ages  to  agree 
upon  a  joint  nominating  committee  composed  of 
two  representatives  from  the  Intermediate  depart- 
ment of  the  Sunday  school  and  two  from  the  Inter- 
mediate Society  of  Christian  Endeavor;  these  four, 
with  the  pastor  or  department  counselor,  to  consti- 
tute the  nominating  committee  to  select  the  joint 
officers  for  the  unified  organizations.  The  commit- 
tees (such  as  are  necessary  both  in  the  Sunday 
school  and  Christian  Endeavor)  may  then  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  jointly  elected  president  in  consul- 
tation with  the  department  counselor. 

45 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

Of  course  there  will  be  problems  to  meet  in  any 
effort  that  may  be  made  to  bring  order  out  of  the 
chaos  of  over-organization  which  abounds  in  the 
average  church.  The  author,  however,  has  found 
no  problem  that  could  not  be  successfully  solved; 
and  the  increased  activity  which  results  from  re- 
ducing the  over-organization  to  a  minimum  more 
than  pays  for  the  time  and  energy  it  takes  to  face 
squarely  the  problems  that  arise. 

The  questions  of  what  to  do  with  the  Christian 
Endeavor  pledge  and  monthly  dues  are  both  prob- 
lems that  will  need  to  be  dealt  with  almost  im- 
mediately. In  many  churches  where  a  unified  and 
correlated  program  of  Christian  education  is  be- 
ing worked  out,  the  Christian  Endeavor  pledge  is 
not  being  made  the  basis  of  membership  as  here- 
tofore, but  is  becoming  one  of  the  goals  of  the  de- 
partment, just  as  Quiet  Hour  and  Tenth  Legion 
covenants  are  goals  toward  which  young  people  are 
encouraged  to  strive.  The  author  feels  that  this 
ought  to  be  encouraged  even  in  churches  not  yet 
attempting  to  correlate  their  educational  program, 
for  the  Christian  Endeavor  pledge  is  a  covenant, 
and,  if  taken  at  all,  it  ought  to  be  thoughtfully 
and  prayerfully  signed,  not  lightly,  just  because 
young  people  feel  that  they  must  sign  it  in  order 
^Ho  belong." 

The  monthly  dues  may  be  done  away  with 
entirely  and  a  once-a-month  self-denial  offering 
substituted.       In     churches     where     the     duplex- 

46 


THE  INTERMEDIATE  DEPARTMENT 

envelope  system  is  being  used  in  the  educational 
work  of  the  church  school,  the  budget  for  each 
department  (Intermediate,  Senior  and  Young 
People's)  may  include  an  annual  offering  to  State 
and  denominational  Christian  Endeavor  work,  thus 
making  it  possible  for  each  group  of  young  people 
to  have  fellowship  in  both  the  denominational  and 
interdenominational  program  promoted  by  the 
Christian  Endeavor  movement. 

The  Program. 

All  educators  are  agreed  in  thinking  that  any 
complete  program  of  religious  education  should 
include  the  three  factors — worship,  instruction  and 
expression. 

Worship  programs  for  the  Intermediate  de- 
partment should  provide  opportunity  for  both 
training  and  participation  in  worship.  This  may 
be  accomplished  by  making  individual  pupils  re- 
sponsible for  contributing  most  of  the  elements  in 
the  program,  and  by  placing  the  responsibility  for 
conducting  worship  services  in  the  hands  of  the 
officers  and  committees  of  the  department.  The 
programs  should  be  builded  around  themes  that 
have  a  more  or  less  universal  appeal,  and  all  the 
elements  in  the  program  should  be  so  correlated  as 
to  fit  naturally  and  normally  into  the  service.  See 
Chapter  VII.  for  suggested  programs. 

The  course  of  study  for  Intermediate  pupils 
should  be  graded  according  to  their  needs  and  in- 
4  47 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

terests.  The  International  Graded  Lessons  provide, 
perhaps,  the  best  course  of  graded  instruction  that 
has  as  yet  been  offered  to  the  church's  school.  They 
are  practical,  progressive,  Biblical  and  evangelis- 
tic ;  and  are  so  planned  as  to  meet  the  spiritual 
needs  of  the  pupil  at  each  stage  of  his  develop- 
ment. 

Intermediate  pupils  are  lively,  active,  quick 
of  impulse  and  quicker  of  deed.  They  are  out- 
spoken, fearless  and  scorn  weakness  of  any  kind. 
They  are  deeply  conscious  of  their  own  individu- 
ality and  are  ardent  hero-worshipers.  Their  ad- 
miration for  the  daring  and  adventuresome  is 
abundantly  gratified  by  the  stirring  Old  and  New 
Testament  hero  studies  provided  for  twelve,  thir- 
teen and  fourteen  year  old  pupils.  The  lessons 
for  twelve-year-old  pupils  consist  of  six  months' 
study  of  the  life  of  Christ  as  given  in  the  Gospel 
of  Mark,  three  months  of  studies  in  Acts,  eight 
lessons  in  the  study  of  the  theme  ''Winning  Others 
for  God,"  and  five  lessons  in  the  study  of  ''The 
Bible  the  Word  of  God."  The  lessons  for  thirteen 
and  fourteen  year  old  pupils  consist  of  biograph- 
ical studies  of  Old  and  New  Testament  characters, 
and  of  modern  missionaries  whose  lives  have  been 
inspired  to  a  like  faith  and  work. 

In  the  smaller  schools  where  there  are  but  one 
or  two  classes  of  Intermediate  age,  the  Departmen- 
talized Graded  Lessons  may  be  used,  or  the  three- 
year  cycle  plan  for  the  use  of  the  closely  graded 

48 


THE  INTERMEDIATE  DEPARTMENT 

lessons  may  be  followed.  Leaflet  No.  29,  "Graded 
Lessons  in  a  Small  Bible  School,"  issued  by  the 
Bible  School  Department  of  the  American  Chris- 
tian Missionary  Society,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  gives  this 
cycle  plan  in  detail. 

The  expressional  activities  of  this  department 
should  be  under  the  direction  of  and  related  to 
the  Executive  Committee  (or  council),  and  pro- 
vision should  be  made  so  that  all  worship  and  in- 
struction issue  in  service  in  the  home,  church,  com- 
munity and  world.  This  department  should  have 
not  only  a  graded  course  of  study,  but  a  graded 
program  of  activities  along  physical,  intellectual, 
social  and  service  lines  that  will  touch  every  phase 
and  interest  of  boy  and  girl  life.  It  is  not  possible 
in  this  chapter  to  set  forth  such  a  program;  but 
the  department  counselor  and  teachers  will  find 
in  "Graded  Social  Service  in  the  Sunday  School," 
by  Hutchins,  and  in  "Missionary  Education  in 
Home  and  School"  (pp.  160-167),  by  Diffendorfer, 
material  that  will  be  suggestive  in  planning  the 
activities  of  the  department  along  service  lines. 

Equipment. 

Ideal  equipment  for  the  Intermediate  depart- 
ment will  provide  both  for  an  assembly-room  and 
separate  classrooms  for  each  class  in  the  depart- 
ment. If  either  must  be  sacrificed,  however,  it 
should  be  the  a^embly-room.  The  department 
room    should    be    attractively    furnished.      On    the 

49 


YOUTH   AND   THE   CHURCH 

walls  there  should  be  a  few  well-chosen  and  well- 
framed  pictures  with  an  appeal  for  this  age.  Good 
portraits  of  great  Bible  characters,  national  heroes 
and  missionaries  of  the  Cross  are  best.  The  fol- 
lowing are  suggestive: 

"Christ  in  the  Temple,''  Hofmann. 
"Men  of  the  Bible''  (panel  8V2  x  29  inches). 
"Women  of  the  Bible"  (panel  8V2  x  29  inches). 
"Six     Great    Modem    Missionaries"     (panel     8%  x  29 
inches). 

Well-chosen  mottoes,  attractive  in  form,  are 
helpful  in  securing  atmosphere,  and  department 
posters  along  recreational  and  service  lines  should 
find  their  place  from  time  to  time.  There  should 
be  a  table  for  the  president  and  secretary,  a  piano 
or  musical  instrument,  chairs,  hymn-books,  maps, 
a  blackboard,  and  a  cabinet  or  bookcase  for  the 
necessary  departmental  records  and  teaching  ac- 
cessories. The  American  and  Christian  flags  ought 
also  to  be  a  part  of  the  equipment. 

Standards  and  Credits. 

The  real  test  of  development  of  Intermediate 
boys  and  girls  is,  of  course,  to  be  found  in  life  and 
conduct,  as  they  grow  from  day  to  day  and  year 
to  year  in  the  Christian  graces.  There  are,  how- 
ever, some  things  in  the  course  of  study  that  ought 
to  become  a  part  of  the  permanent  life  equipment 
of  boys  and  girls.  The  department  counselor  and 
teachers  should  go  through  the  course  of  study  in 

50 


THE  INTERMEDIATE  DEPARTMENT 


use  and  decide  what  the  standard  of  required  work 
for  each  year  is  to  be,  in  order  that  they  may  know 
whether  or  not  boys  and  girls  are  growing  in  their 
knowledge  and  use  of  the  Bible  as  the  source  of 
Christian  ideas  and  ideals.  This  stan(Jard  of  re- 
quired work  might  well  be  made  the  basis  of  pro- 
motion from  class  to  class  within  the  department. 
It  should  include  the  required  memory  work  (see 
International  Graded  Lessons  for  suggested  pas- 
sages of  Scriptures  to  be  memorized),  map  work 
(tracing  journeys,  locating  events,  etc.),  customs 
(peculiar  to  the  Holy  Land),  character  sketches 
and  themes. 

Pupils  should  receive  credit  for  the  work  they 
do  in  connection  with  the  church  school  just  as 
they  do  in  the  public  schools;  and  better  results 
will  be  obtained  if  there  is  a  uniform  system  of 
credits  for  all  the  classes  within  the  department. 
The  following  points  are  suggestive: 

Attendance  30  per  cent. 

On   time  15 

Offering    7 

Use  of  Bible  8 

Assigned  work  20 

Churcli  attendance  20 

The  assigned  work  may  be  divided  into  two  or 
three  items,  if  desired,  in  which  case  the  20  per 
cent,  would  be  divided,  giving  each  point  a  certain 
per  cent. ;  thus,  home  study,  10  per  cent. ;  recita- 
tion, 5  per  cent. ;  service  through  the  week,  5  per 

51 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

cent.  This  scale  is  merely  suggestive.  It  may  be 
changed  from  time  to  time  for  the  purpose  of  giv- 
ing special  emphasis  to  some  particular  point. 
Pupils  whose  average  is  80  per  cent,  or  more  should 
receive  recognition  in  some  special  way  in  the  de- 
partment from  quarter  to  quarter.  The  credit 
cards  should  be  kept  in  the  department  during  the 
quarter;  the  average  for  each  pupil  transferred  to 
the  teacher's  or  counselor's  permanent  record  at 
the  end  of  the  quarter;  and  then  the  credit  card 
may  be  given  or  mailed  to  the  pupil.  The  total 
record  of  enrollment,  attendance,  visitors,  new 
pupils,  offerings,  etc.,  will,  of  course,  need  to  be 
sent  to  the  school's  general  secretary  each  Sunday. 

The  last  Sunday  in  September  is  usually  ob- 
served as  Promotion  Day,  inasmuch  as  the  first 
lesson  of  the  graded  Sunday-school  year  comes  on 
the  first  Sunday  in  October.  Boys  and  girls  who 
are  passing  from  one  grade  to  another  within  the 
department  may  be  given  promotion  cards,  but 
those  who  pass  from  the  Intermediate  to  the  Senior 
department  should  receive  certificates.  It  is  well 
to  give  certificates  to  only  those  who  have  made 
a  grade  of  70  per  cent,  or  more.  Those  who  have 
made  80  per  cent,  m^ay  receive  honor  seals  on  their 
certificates,  and  those  who  have  made  90  per  cent, 
or  above,  double-honor  seals. 

The  Promotion  Day  service  should  be  based, 
for  the  most  part,  on  the  material  covered  in  the 
course   of  study.     It  may   consist   of   stories,   bio- 

52 


THE  INTERMEDIATE  DEPARTMENT 

graphical  sketches,  dramatizations,  memory  Scrip- 
tures, hymns,  special  music,  etc.  As  a  rule,  only 
the  classes  graduating  from  the  department  are 
used  in  connection  with  this  special-day  program. 

The  Council  and  Co-operation. 

Finally,  there  must  be  a  spirit  of  co-operation 
on  the  part  of  all  the  officers,  teachers  and  pupils, 
without  which  the  finest  organization,  equipment 
and  program  will  fail  utterly.  Eegular  meetings 
of  the  department  council  (Executive  Committee) 
will  do  much  to  bring  this  spirit  of  co-operation 
to  pass.  At  these  meetings  all  the  work  of  the 
department  should  be  considered,  and  plans  for 
future  work  outlined  in  detail. 

In  addition  to  this  meeting,  the  teachers  and 
counselor  should  be  loyal  to  the  work  of  the  church 
and  church  school  as  a  whole,  attending  the  Work- 
ers' Conference,  or  other  meeting  where  their  pres- 
ence is  desired.  A  thirty  or  forty  minute  depart- 
mental meeting  in  connection  with  the  Workers* 
Conference  will  give  the  teachers  and  counselor  a 
chance  to  talk  over  problems  that  relate  to  lesson 
materials,  teaching  methods,  and  other  matters 
which  are  not  likely  to  be  considered  in  the  reg- 
ular meetings  of  the  department  council. 

The  department  counselor  is  the  key  to  a  suc- 
cessful Intermediate  departm_ent.  He  or  she  must 
know  hoys  and  girls;  must  be  full  of  plans,  able 
to  think  up  interesting  things  young  people  can  do 

53 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

for  the  spread  of  the  Kingdom;  must  possess  ini- 
tiative, leadership,  and  yet  be  able  to  keep  in  the 
background  and  to  work  through  officers,  teachers 
and  pupils  in  bringing  to  pass  desired  results.  It 
requires  sympathy,  interest,  initiative,  consecration, 
preparation;  but  success  will  crown  the  labors  of 
any  one  who  is  willing  to  pay  the  price  for  leader- 
ship— study  and  Jiard  work. 


54 


THE  INTERMEDIATE  DEPARTMENT 


55 


Ill 

THE  SENIOR  DEPARTMENT 

WE  are  to  consider  in  this  chapter  the  Senior 
department  (ages  15-17  approximately),  its 
pupils,  aims,  organization,  program,  equipment, 
standards  and  activities. 

In  churches  where  it  is  necessary  to  combine 
in  a  boys'  and  girls',  or  high-school,  department 
pupils  from  twelve  or  thirteen  to  eighteen  years  of 
age.  Chapters  II.  and  III.  should  be  considered 
together. 

Senior  Pupils. 

In    our    study    of    the    Intermediate    pupil    we 
i  noted  that  the  chief  characteristics  of   early  ado- 
ilescence  were  physical  growth  and  pubertal  devel- 
opment, the  budding  of  individuality,  the  awaken- 
ing of  the  social  instincts,  and  the  birth  of  a  new 
God  consciousness.     In   this   chapter  we   shall   see 
the    maturing    of    many    of    the    tendencies    which 
began  to  manifest  themselves  in  these  earlier  years. 
Physically,  the  years  from  fifteen  to  seventeen 
mark  the   culmination  of  the   organic   growth   and 
development  of  the  body.     Professor  Weigle  says: 
''At  fifteen  a  boy  has  attained  92  per  cent,  of  his 

56 


THE    SENIOR    DEPARTMENT 

adult  height  and  76  per  cent,  of  his  adult  weight; 
,  girls  have  reached  in  height  97  per  cent,  and  in 
j  weight  90  per  cent,  of  their  full  growth.  After  the 
seventeenth  year  girls  almost  cease  to  grow,  and 
boys  grow  comparatively  little,  and  that  mainly  in 
weight.  This  period  is,  as  a  rule,  a  period  of 
great  vigor  and  energy.  There  is  frequently  an 
increase  in  liability  to  sickness  during  the  period 
of  puberty,  which  declines  immediately  after.  The 
power  to  resist  disease  remains  high  throughout 
these  years. ' ' '  The  physical  energy  which  in  the 
early  teens  was  needed  for  growth  is  now  turned 
into  activity  and  into  the  development  of  strength 
and  agility.  Because  of  this  released  energy  we 
/^fmd  the  young  person  of  fifteen  to  eighteen  seek- 
li  ing  place  where  life  may  be  lived  to  the  full.  This 
vgroup  of  young  people  at  the  height  of  power,  full 
of  ambition  and  of  a  desire  to  count  for  something, 
look  during  these  years  over  the  fields  of  useful- 
ness and  choose  where  their  life  is  to  be  invested. 
Happy  indeed  are  the  young  people  who  come 
to  this  decision .  point  with  high  ideals  a^^d  with 
some  appreciation  of  the  real  values  in  life,  that 
their  choices  may  be  made,  not  on  the  basis  of 
dollars  and  cents,  but  on  the  basis  of  service. 

Intellectually,  the  period  of  middle  adolescence 
is  characterized  by  the  development  of  the  reason 
and  will.  Young  people  are  now  able  to  look  at 
the  question  from  all  sides,  to  weigh,  to  judge,  to 


The  Pv/pil  and  Teacher    (p.   48). 
57 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH  , 

evaluate.  They  are  no  longer  content  with  scat- 
"tered  bits  of  knowledge  and  experience;  they. want 
to  see  all  the  things  of  life  in  their  proper  rela- 
tionship. They  are  trying  to  patch  together  their 
scattered  bits  of  knowledge  and  experience  into  a 
complete,  a  rational,  a  logical  whole.  Of  necessity 
they  are  critical;  they  accept  no  bald  imperatives; 
they  demand  proofs,,.  We  who  deal  with  them  need 
to  remember  that  these  young  people  could  never 
''put  away  childish  things,"  and  come  to  a 
mature  adult  viewpoint  about  anything,  without 
passing  through  this  period  of  doubting,  of  ques- 
tioning, of  perplexities. 

It  is  a.  period  of  expansion.  Professor  Weigle 
notes:  tLife  broadens  in  a  hundred  different  and 
unexpected  ways,  and  may  take  any  one  of  them 
for  its  final  direction.  These  years  are  full  of  con- 
flicting impulses,  of  contradictions,  of  surprises. 
Through  it  all,  however,  three  fundamental  char- 
acteristics stand  out  definitely:  the  expansion  of 
selfhood^  a  new  recognition  of  social  values,  and 
the  emotional  instability  associated  with  the  devel- 
opment of  the  sexual  instincts.  It  is  during  these 
years  that  boys  and  girls  enter  into  the  heritage 
of  instincts  and  ideals,  of  purposes  and  ambitions 
which  are  their  birthright  as  members  of  the  human 
race.  They  are  filled  with  a  new  sense  of  power 
and  with  the  desire  to  use  it  as  men  and  women 
do.  They  become  conscious  during  these  years  of 
what  the  world  is  doing,  begin  to  realize  its  worth, 

58 


THE    SENIOR   DEPARTMENT 

and  are  eager,  oh!  so  eager,  to  throw  thc.mselves 
into  the  real  things  of  life  and  to  do  what  there 
lies  waiting  for  them. "  \^ 

The  independence  and  self-assertiveness  of  this 
period  is  of  a  wholly  different  sort  from  that  dur- 
ing the  years  from  twelve  to  fourteen.     Then  boys 
and  girls  were  independent  because  of  their  grow- 
ing consciousness  of  themselves  as  individuals ;  now 
it    is    more    an    independence    of   vision,    the    self- 
assertion   of  those   who   see   the   great   interests   of 
human   life,   and  who   desire  to   give   and   get,    on 
their  own  account,  a  share  in  the  world's  big  life.    . 
This  accounts  for  the  large  number  of  young  peo-    j 
pie  who  drop  out  of  school  and  go  to  work  during    1 
these  years. 

Then,  too,  these  are  the  years  when  boys  and 
girls  become  genuinely  idealistic.  They  are  more 
than  hero-worship ers — youth  in  the  period  of  early 
adolescence  is  that — they  are  worshipers  of  the  in- 
ward qualities  that  it  takes  to  make  a  hero.     They 

feel   now,   as  never  before,   the   intrinsic   value of 

truth,  faith,  love  and  self-sacrifice.  They  do  not 
merely  admire  these  virtues  in  others;  they  feel 
them  stirring  within  their  own  lives. 

Socially,    this    period    is    of    tremendous    im- 
portance.    The  sex  repulsion  so  noticeable  during 
the  period  of  later  childhood,  and  even  into  early 
adolescence,  has  disappeared.     Boys  and  girls  now     , 
openly  seek  the  society  each  of  the  ot^ier  as  though 


The  Pupil  and  the  Teacher   (pp.  48,  49). 
59 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

they  understood  at  last  that  God  intended  them  to 
work  and  play  together.  The  social  group  widens 
a  bit  during  these  years,  and  there  is  a  marked 
idesire  for  leadership  and  initiative  in  group  ac- 
tivities. ''From  sixteen  or  seventeen  on  the  feel- 
ings deepen;  emotions  become  sentiments;  and  the 
affections  are  more  lasting." 

Life  during  these  years  becomes  genuinely  jaL^^T^ 
truistic.  Boys  and  girls  alike  are  happy  in  the 
pursuit  of  their  ideals  and  are  glad  to  endure 
hardships  and  to  make  sacrifices  for  others.  Pro- 
fessor Weigle  indicates  also  that  this  period  marks 
the  beginning  of  real  selfishness,  if  the  higher  im- 
/pulse,  when  present,  is  denied  expression."  The 
constant  choice  between  the  "for  others"  instinct 
and  the  "self"  instinct  is  the  ever-present  problem 
of  this  period.  If  the  higher  impulse  is  given 
expression,  the  life  will  be  lived  largely  for  others; 
if  denied,  the  interests  of  self  will  tend  always  to 
be  given  first  consideration.  The  task  of  the  church 
is  to  provide  young  people  with  a  program  of  ser- 
vice so  big,  so  strong,  so  desirable,  that  with  irre- 
sistible power  it  will  challenge  youth  to  leave  all 
selfish  interests  and  follow  the   Christ  in   service. 

Religiously,  this  is  a  period  of  extremes.  One 
day  the  boy  or  girl  is  the  most  zealous  of  religious 
enthusiasts,  and  the  next  day  a  "doubting 
Thomas."  "I  do  not  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  Son  of  God,"  said  a  fine  sixteen-year-old  girl 


^  The  Pupil  and  the  Teacher    (p.   50). 

60 


THE    SENIOR    DEPARTMENT 

to  her  Sunday-school  teacher.  ''Oh!  I  think  he 
was  the  greatest  man  that  ever  lived,  but  I  do  not 
believe  he  was  the  Son  of  God."  That  wise,  clear- 
visioned  teacher  replied:  ''Well,  Katherine,  I  be- 
lieve he  was  more  than  that,  but  if  you  can  not 
believe  He  was  any  more  than  just  the  greatest 
man  that  ever  lived,  you  begin  right  there,  believ- 
ing that,  and  live  the  life  He  did."  Eighteen 
months  later  Katherine  came  to  that  teacher's 
home  one  night  with  tears  in  her  eyes,  and  said: 
"I  know  that  Jesus  Christ  was  the  Son  of  God, 
for  no  man  could  have  lived  the  life  He  did  and 
not  have  been."  What  Katherine  needed,  and 
what  perhaps  every  boy  and  girl  in  this  period 
need  when  they  express  doubt,  is  not  reproof  and 
rebuke,  but  just  a  chance  to  live  a  little  longer  to 
realize  within  the  limits  of  their  own  human  ex- 
perience that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the 
living  God,  and  their  Saviour. 

The  emotignaljnteiisit^  o^^his^  period  manifests 
itself  in  ardent  devotion  and  self-sacrifice.  The 
fact  that  more  medals  are  awarded  young  people 
in  this  period  for  heroic  deeds  than  in  all  the  other 
years  of  life  is  a  worthy  testimony  to  their  readi- 
ness to  sacrifice  self  for  the  good  of  others.  The 
high-water  mark  in  conversion  comes  also  during 
this  period.  There  are  two  things  that  are  likely 
to  undermine  the  religion  of  this  group — Houbt 
unsatisfactorily  answered  and  devotion  unused. 
The  program  of  Christian  education  for  this  group 

61 


^ 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

should  provide  adequate  instruction  in  the  things 
fundamental  to  the  Christian  life,  and  a  definite 
program  of  service  that  will  make  it  possible  for 
them  to  express  the  truths  learned  in  life.  Boys 
and  girls  in  these  emotional  years  are  approaching 
the  ''danger-line  in  religion,"  and  unless  they  are 
vitally  related  to  the  work  of  the  Kingdom  through 
the  acceptance  of  Jesus  Christ  as  a  personal 
Saviour,  and  enlistment  in  His  service,  there  is 
always  the  danger  that  they  will  be  lost  entirely  to 
God  and  the  church. 

Department  Aims. 

If  we  are  to  work  conscientiously  toward  the 
realization  of  the  general  aim  of  the  church  through 
its  church  school,  then  we  must  have  for  each 
department  specific  aims  that  are  related  to  the 
general  aim;  and  which,  when  accomplished,  will 
bring  us  nearer  to  the  realization  of  the  educa- 
tional aim  of  the  church.  The  specific  aims  of  the 
Senior  department  are  to  realize  in  the  life  of  each 
individual  pupil  the  following  results: 

1.  "The  acceptance  of  Jesus  Christ  as  a  per- 
sonal Saviour."  Since  the  ''high-water"  mark  in 
conversion  comes  during  these  emotional  years,  we 
should  endeavor  to  win  for  Christ  and  the  church 
each  life  that  has  not  already  taken  that  important 
step. 

2.  "The  testing  of  his  earlier  Christian  ideals 
in  the  light  of  his  enlarging  experiences  and  the 

62 


THE    SENIOR    DEPARTMENT 

consequent  adjustments  of  his  life  choices  and 
conduct."  Young  people  must  be  helped  to  see 
that  Christian  ideals  must  function  in  conduct,  in 
the  choice  of  friends,   amusements,   vocations,  etc. 

3.  *'The  expression  of  the  rapidly  developing 
social  consciousness  through  the  home,  church  and 
community. ' ' 

4.  ''The  development  of  initiative,  responsibil- 
ity and  self-expression  in   Christian  service. ' ' ' 

Here,  as  in  the  Intermediate  department,  the 
counselor  and  teachers  should  check  up,  from 
time  to  time,  the  work  that  is  being  done,  to  see 
how  largely  these  aims  are  being  accomplished  in 
the  lives  of  Senior  boys  and  girls. 

Organization. 

Organization  is  essential  to  the  fullest  devel- 
opment of  young  people  because  it  provides  op- 
portunity for  both  the  individual  and  group  ex- 
pression which  growing  life  demands.  There  should 
be,  therefore,  in  every  church,  a  department  of 
church  life  for  each  normal  group  of  adolescents 
(Intermediate,  Senior  and  Young  People),  provid- 
ing opportunity  for  the  instruction,  training  and 
expression  of  the  physical,  intellectual,  social  and 
religious  life  in  service. 

The  ideal  in  work  with  young  people,  as  we 
have    seen,    is    one    inclusive    organization    in    the 


*  1917  Minutes  of  the  Simday  School  Council  of  Evangelical  De- 
nominations (p.  45). 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

local  church  for  each  normal  group  of  adolescents, 
each  of  these  organizations  to  provide  all  the 
necessary  worship,  instruction  and  training  through 
departments  made  up  of  classes.  The  classes  to  be 
organized  for  specific  tasks  and  individual  train- 
ing, and  the  departments  organized  for  group  ac- 
tivities and  for  the  cultivation  of  the  devotional 
life  through  prayer,  praise,  testimony,  and  other 
forms  of  self-expression. 

The  diagram  on  page  55  suggests  a  very  simple 
form  of  departmental  organization  which  may  be 
adapted  to  suit  the  needs  of  the  Senior  group.  As 
soon  as  the  organization  has  been  effected  there 
should  be  a  meeting  of  the  council  (Executive 
Committee)  to  plan  the  work  of  the  Senior  de- 
partment of  the  church,  both  with  relation  to  the 
Sunday  school  and  Christian  Endeavor.  This  coun- 
cil should  so  plan  its  program  of  work  with  young 
people  as  to  touch  every  phase  of  the  church's 
work,  and  so  correlate  its  worship,  instruction  and 
activities  that  there  will  be  no  needless  overlapping 
and  duplication  of  effort.  In  most  churches  it  will 
be  found  expedient  to  elect  officers  early  in  Oc- 
tober, with  the  understanding  that  the  officers 
selected  are  to  serve  for  one  year.  If  the  officers 
are  chosen  semi-annually,  then  it  should  be  under- 
stood that  no  set  of  officers  is  to  serve  for  more 
than  two  terms  in  succession. 

Where  the  building  permits,  there  should  be  a 
separate  assembly-room  for  the  Senior  department, 

64 


THE    SENIOR    DEPARTMENT 

providing  opportunity  for  training  and  expression 
in  worship,  both  in  connection  with  the  Sunday- 
school  and  Christian  Endeavor.  Where  the  ar- 
rangement of  the  building  does  not  permit  of  de- 
partment assemblies,  the  meetings  of  the  Senior 
group  may  be  combined  with  the  Intermediate  and 
Young  People.  Where  adjustments  of  this  sort 
are  necessary,  the  group  plan  of  conducting  the 
meetings  may  be  used  to  splendid  advantage — the 
Intermediate  group  being  responsible  for  the  ser- 
vices one  Sunday,  the  Senior  group  the  next  Sun- 
day, and  the  Young  People's  group  the  Sunday 
following. 

In  this  department,  as  in  the  Intermediate,  the 
president  should  preside  over  all  sessions,  unless 
that  work  has  been  assigned  for  the  day  to  some 
other  person  or  group.  In  addition  to  the  Sunday 
sessions,  there  should  be  at  least  one  through-the- 
week  departmental  activity  each  quarter  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  a  departmental  spirit  and 
unity  of  action  on  the  part  of  the  larger  group. 
(See  Chapter  IX.  for  plans  and  materials.) 

In  addition  to  the  departmental  organization, 
each  of  the  small  groups  (classes)  within  the  de- 
partment may  be  organized,  each  with  its  own 
set  of  boy  and  girl  officers  and  committees,  and  its 
regular  Sunday  and  through  the  week  or  month 
meetings.  (See  Chapter  V.  for  plan  of  organiza- 
tion and  program,  and  Chapter  VI.  for  suggestions 
concerning  through- the-week  activities.) 

65 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

The  Program. 

The  program  of  study  and  activities  for  Seniors 
should  develop  them  upon  all  sides  of  their  nature 
— physical,  intellectual,  social  and  religious.  It 
should  include  Bible  study  and  correlated  subjects, 
the  cultivation  of  the  devotional  life,  training  for 
leadership,  and  service  through  stewardship,  rec- 
reation, community  work,  citizenship,  evangelism 
and  missions. 

The  programs  of  worship  for  Seniors  should 
provide  opportunity  for  both  training  and  expres- 
sion. In  this  department,  as  in  the  Intermediate, 
these  programs  should  be  builded  around  themes 
that  have  a  more  or  less  universal  appeal,  such  as 
loyalty,  gratitude,  love,  faith,  reverence,  etc.  All 
the  elements  in  the  program  should  be  correlated 
around  the  themes  chosen;  and  the  pupils  should 
be  largely  responsible  both  for  building  and  con- 
ducting the  program.  Many  departments  are  now 
planning  their  worship  programs  for  a  month,  at 
a  time;  and  in  some  schools  the  classes,  as  units, 
are  made  responsible  each  for  a  program.  The 
plan-  is  good,  providing  the  rivalry  between  classes 
within  the  department  does  not  become  so  great 
that  the  program  ceases  to  be  a  worship  service 
and  I)ecomes  a  spectacular  stunt.  The  department 
counselor  and  teachers  working  through  the  classes 
may  be  of  special  service  here. 

Teachers  will  find  in  the  International  Graded 
Lessons  for  fifteen,  sixteen  and  seventeen  year  old 

66 


THE    SENIOR   DEPARTMENT 


pupils  perhaps  the  best  lesson  material  for  these 
emotional  years,  for  it  must  be  remembered  that 
the  needs,  not  the  number  of  pupils,  should  de- 
termine the  cJioice  of  the  material  to  be  used. 

Pupils  fifteen  to  seventeen  years  of  age  are 
happy-hearted,  emotional,  full  of  the  burning  am- 
bitions of  youth.  They  do  not  accept  assertions 
unhesitatingly  as  heretofore,  but  probe  statement 
and  motive  with  questions  none  the  less  sincere 
because  they  are  often  outspoken.  The  gpiritual 
needs  of  these  pupils  must  be  met  at  this  time,  and 
they  must  be  won  to  Christ  and  His  service,  or  be 
perhaps  forever  lost  to  the  church  and  the  King- 
dom. 

The  aim  of  the  International  Graded  Lessons 
for  the  fifteenth  year  is:  "To  set  before  the  pupil, 
through  a  biographical  study  of  Jesus  Christ,  the 
highest  possible  ideals  of  Christian  living  in  as- 
pects and  forms  to  which  the  impulses  of  his  own 
nature  may  be  expected  to  respond;  to  lead  the 
pupil  to  accept  Jesus  as  his  personal  Saviour  and 
the  Lord  of  his  life."  This  course  of  study  of  the 
life  of  Christ,  as  given  in  the  four  Gospels,  is  of 
peculiar  interest  and  value,  because  it  comes  at 
the  time  when  so  many  of  these  young  people  are 
making  the  decision  as  to  whether  or  not  Christ 
shall  be  the  ruler  of  their  lives. 

The  aim  of  the  International  Graded  Lessons! 
for  the  sixteenth  year  is :  "To  strengthen  and  en- 1 
courage  those  young  people  who  have  decided  to  ': 

67  I 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

live  the  Christian  life,  and  to  help  others  to  ac- 
cept Jesus  as  their  personal  Saviour ;  to  lead  young 
people  into  a  sympathetic  and  intelligent  attitude 
toward  the  church,  and  to  inspire  them  to  seek 
membership  in  it;  to  awaken  an  interest  in  Bible 
reading  and  study  as  a  means  of  personal  spiritual 
growth."  The  themes  for  this  year  of  "Studies 
in  Christian  Living"  are  as  follows: 

I.  What  It  Means  to  Be  a  Christian.     Lessons  1-13. 
II.  Special    Problems    of    Christian    Living.      Lessons 
14-26. 

III.  The  Christian  and  the  Church.     Lessons  27-39. 

IV.  The  Word  of  God  in  Life.     Lessons  40-52. 

The  aim  of  the  International  Graded  Lessons 
for  the  seventeenth  year  is:  "To  lead  the  pupil 
to  see  life  in  the  proper  perspective  from  the 
Christian  point  of  view,  and  to  aid  him  in  finding 
his  place  and  part  in  the  world's  work."  The 
themes  discussed  are: 

I.  The  World  a  Field  for  Christian  Service.     Lessons 

1-26. 
n.  The   Problems   of   Youth   in   Social   Life.     Lessons 
27-39. 
m.  The  Book  of  Ruth.     Lessons  40-42. 
IV.  The  Epistle  of  James.     Lessons  43-52. 

It  is  evident  that  these  lessons  definitely  relate 
themselves  to  the  life  interests  and  life  needs  of 
this  period — accepting  Christ  at  fifteen,  relating 
Christ  to  every-day  life  at  sixteen,  and  finding 
one's  place  in  the  world  of  service  at  seventeen. 

68 


THE    SENIOR    DEPARTMENT 

Inasmuch  as  elective  courses  are  available  for 
young  people,  it  may  seem  wiser  in  some  cases  to 
offer  sixteen  and  seventeen  year  old  pupils  an 
opportunity  to  elect  other  studies  that  will  fit  them 
at  an  early  date  for  service  in  the  home,  church 
and  community.  The  following  courses  are  avail- 
able: 

**Tlie  Standard  Teacher-training  Course'*  (three years). 
"Making  Life  Count, '*  Foster.      (Mission  study.) 
''Servants  of  the  King,"  Speer.      (Mission  study.) 
' '  Comrades  in  Service, ' '  Burton.     (Mission  study.) 
"Heroines  of  Service,"  Parkman.     (Mission  study.) 
"Problems  of  Boyhood,"  Johnson. 
"Lives  Worth  Living,"  Peabody. 

In  small  schools  where  there  is  but  one  class  of 
Senior  age  the  Departmentalized  Graded  Lessons 
or  the  three-year  cycle  plan  for  the  use  of  closely 
graded  lessons  will  be  found  advisable. 

The  activities  of  the  Senior  department  should 
be  many  and  varied.  They  should  touch  every 
phase  and  interest  of  life  in  its  relation  to  the 
home,  church,  community  and  world.  The  activ- 
ities should  be  planned  largely  by  the  council 
(Executive  Committee),  and  the  details  assigned 
to  the  proper  committees  or  classes  for  execution. 
(See  Chapters  VI.  and  IX.  for  plans  and  program.) 

Equipment. 

It  would  be  ideal,  indeed,  if  in  every  church 
school  there  could  be  a  separate  assembly-room  and 

69 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

separate  classroom  for  all  pupils  of  Senior  age. 
In  only  a  few  churches  at  the  present  time,  how- 
ever, is  that  ideal  realized.  Churches  contemplat- 
ing new  buildings  should  keep  these  natural  group- 
ings (Intermediate,  12-14;  Senior,  15-17,  and 
Young  People,  18-24)  in  mind,  and  provide,  if 
possible,  for  both  separate  assembly-rooms  and 
separate  classrooms  for  each  group.  In  the  one- 
room  church  building  some  separation  of  classes 
and  departments  may  be  arranged  for  by  group- 


MOVABLE  ASSEMBLY-ROOM  CHAIR* 

*Used   through  the   courtesy  of  the   American   Seating  Company, 
Chicago,  Illinois. 

70 


THE    SENIOR    DEPARTMENT 

ing  Intermediate  classes  on  one  side  of  the  room 
and  Senior  classes  on  the  other  side,  with  curtains 
or  screens  that  may  be  used  for  the  class  period. 
Ideal  equipment  for  the  departmental  room  will 
include  a  filing  cabinet  or  bookcase  for  the  neces- 
sary records,  teaching  materials,  maps,  pictures, 
etc.,  a  table  for  the  president  and  secretary,  a 
musical  instrument,  hymn-books,  a  blackboard, 
maps  and  chairs.  Where  the  department  room 
must  be  used  for  classroom  purposes  also,  the 
broad-armed  assembly-room  chairs  are  ideal.  (See 
the  diagram  on  page  70  for  illustration.)  The 
American  and  Christian  flags  should  form  a  part 
of  the  department  room 's  equipment ;  and  a  few 
well-chosen  mottoes,  attractive  in  form,  will  be 
helpful  in  securing  a  department  atmosphere. 
Recreational  and  service  posters  will  find  their 
place  from  time  to  time ;  and  the  walls  should  be 
adorned  with  a  few  well-chosen  and  well-framed 
pictures.     The  following  are  suggestive: 

*' Christ  and  the  Rich  Young  Ruler,"  Hofmann. 
"The  Return  from  Calvary,"  H.  Schmalz. 
"Head  of  Christ,"  Hofmann. 
"Christ  and  the  Fishermen,"  Zimmermann. 
"The  Frieze  of  the  Prophets,"  Sargent. 

What  was  said  with  reference  to  ''Standards 
and  Credits"  in  the  Intermediate  department 
(Chapter  II.,  pp.  51-53)  might  well  be  repeated  for 
emphasis  in  planning  the  work  of  the  Senior  de- 
partment.    The  author  found  the  following  Stand- 

71 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

ard  of  Required  Work,^  based  on  the  International 
Graded  Lessons  for  pupils  fifteen,  sixteen  and 
seventeen  years  of  age,  in  use  in  one  school  with 
splendid  results: 

I.  Memory  Work: 

1.  To   be   correlated  with   tlie   study   of   "Life   of 

Christ.'' 

(1)  First   Quarter— John  3:16-21;    14:1-12. 

(2)  Second  Quarter— Acts  1:  34-43;  Phil.  2:  5-11. 

(3)  Third  Quarter— Isa.  52:  13-53:  12. 

(4)  Fourth   Quarter— John   14:  21-24;    1   Pet.   1: 

3-9;   Eev.  5:  9-13. 

2.  To   be    correlated   with   the   theme   "Studies   in 

Christian  Living. ' ' 

(1)  First  Quarter — 1  Cor.  chap.  13. 

(2)  Second  Quarter— Col.  1:9-11;   2  Tim.  3:14- 

17;  2:  15. 

(3)  Third  Quarter— John  17:  20-23. 

(4)  Fourth    Quarter — Review    of    the    Books    of 

the    Bible    (both    Old    and    New    Testa- 
ments), with  contents. 

3.  To  be  correlated  with  the  study  of  "The  World 

a  Field  for  Christian  Service." 

(1)  First  Quarter — Memorize  the  hymn:  "Where 

Cross  the   Crowded  Ways  of  Life,"  by 
North. 

(2)  Second   Quarter— Acts   22:  1-21;    2   Cor.   11: 

21—12:  1;  Gal.  1:  11—2:  10. 

(3)  Third      Quarter— The      "Sermon      on      the 

Mount,"  Matthew  5 — 7. 

(4)  Fourth    Quarter — Tell    in    your    own    words 

the  story  of  Ruth.     Give  ten  Christian 
proverbs  from  the  Book  of  James. 


^  The  minimnni  requirement  for  each  year,   any  quarter's  assigned 
memory  work,  at  least  one  outline,  and  one  theme. 

72 


THE    SENIOR    DEPARTMENT 

n.  Outlines: 

1.  Give  in  outline  the  story  of  the  life  of  Christ. 

2.  Trace   on   an   outline  map   one   of   the  journeys 

of    Christ;    indicate    the   points    visited,    and 
what  happened  at  each  point. 

3.  Outline  the  contents  of  the  Book  of  Ruth.     Of 

James. 
m.  Themes  (not  over  five  hundred  words): 

1.  The  World's  Supreme  Hero. 

2.  Why  I   Believe   the  Bible   to   be   the   Word   of 

God. 

3.  The  Christian  Life  and  Popular  Amusements. 

4.  Reasons   for  Accepting  Jesus   Christ   as   a  Per- 

sonal Saviour. 

In  the  Senior  department,  as  in  the  Intermedi- 
ate, there  should  be  a  uniform  system  of  credits 
for  all  the  classes  within  the  department.  The 
points  suggested  on  page  51  of  Chapter  II.  may 
be  changed  and  adapted  to  meet  the  needs  of 
Senior  pupils.  Some  schools  are  using  the  scholar- 
ship plan,  with  splendid  success,  to  encourage 
special  effort  on  the  part  of  young  people.  These 
scholarships,  one  or  two  each  year,  range  from 
twenty-five  to  fifty  dollars;  and  are  offered,  one 
to  the  Senior  and  one  to  the  Young  People's  de- 
partments, for  the  purpose  of  paying  the  way  of 
the  boy  or  girl  who  makes  the  highest  average, 
for  a  given  period  of  time  (usually  nine  months — 
October  to  July)  to  some  Summer  School  of 
Methods  or  Older  Boys'  or  Oirls'  Conference.  In 
addition  to  these  regular  scholarships,  provided  by 
the  Sunday  school  or  some  person  of  means  in  the 

73 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

church,  an  additional  fellowship  scholarsJiip  is 
sometimes  offered  by  the  church,  which  may  go 
only  to  one  who  has  before  earned  one  of  the  reg- 
ular scholarships.  The  plan  is  to  be  highly  com- 
mended. 

Leadership. 

Trained  leadership  is  the  vital  need  of  the 
Senior  years.  The  department  counselor  and  teach- 
ers for  this  period  should  be  graduates  of  a  recog- 
nized teacher-training  course,  or  its  equivalent, 
and  should  continue  their  specialization  by  study 
and  by  attending  conventions,  institutes,  schools 
of  methods,  and  community  training-schools.  A 
young  man  is,  as  a  rule,  the  ideal  leader  for  boys 
in  the  middle  teens;  and  a  young  woman  the  ideal 
leader  for  girls.  Whether  the  leadership  is  male 
or  female,  however,  several  qualities  are  essential 
— Christian  character,  patience,  persistence,  sym- 
pathy, understanding,  ability  to  guide  and  direct, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  keep  in  the  background, 
aims,  plans,  and  a  willingness  to  train  for  service. 
Teachers  and  leaders  who  are  unwilling  to  try,  at 
least,  to  develop  these  qualities,  should  not  be 
selected  as  leaders  for  Senior  boys  and  girls. 


74 


SCREENS* 

Screens  are  often  preferable  to  curtains  for  the  separation  of 
classes.  Through  the  courtesy  of  H.  L.  Strickland,  Nashville,  Ten- 
nessee, we  are  permitted  to  present  the  combination  screen  and 
blackboard  as  shown  in  the  accompanying  cut.  The  screen  is  made 
in  two  sections,  which  are  securely  hinged  together,  each  being  three 
feet  wide  and  five  feet  high.  The  frame  is  %  by  2^/2  inches,  the 
panels  being  filled  with  beaver-board;  the  top  panel  is  coated  with 
liquid  slating,  making  a  good  blackboard.  This  screen  can  be  made 
by  a   carpenter. 


'P.  E.  Burroughs,  Church  and  Sunday  School  Buildings  (p.  167). 


IV 

THE  YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  DEPARTMENT 

THIS  department  includes  young  people  ap- 
proximately eighteen  to  twenty-four  years  of 
age.  In  the  practical  working  out  of  the  educa- 
tional program  of  the  church,  however,  this  de- 
partment will  contain  about  all  the  young  unmar- 
ried people  in  the  church. 

Characteristics  of  Young  People. 

The  years  from  eighteen  to  twenty-four,  while 
not  characterized  by  as  sharp  changes  as  mark  the 
periods  of  early  and  middle  adolescence,  are  in 
many  respects  the  most  important  years  of  the 
adolescent  period. 

Physically,  growth  is  practically  attained  by 
the  time  a  young  person  reaches  the  eighteenth  or 
nineteenth  year.  From  this  time  on  the  blood, 
which  in  the  early  teens  was  used  to  grow  a  body, 
and  in  the  middle  teens  to  grow  a  brain,  is  ex- 
pended in  the  development  of  strength  and  agility. 
At  this  time  the  body  is  well  under  the  control  of 
the  mind,  and  the  development  of  muscular  tissue 
is  rapid  and  easy.     All  the  physical  appetites  and 

75 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

impulses  are  stronger  during  this  than  preceding 
periods;  but,  if  development  has  been  normal,  the 
rapid  maturing  of  the  reason  and  will  makes  it 
possible  for  young  people  to  bring  these  appetites 
and  impulses  under  control.  ' '  With  a  well-developed 
body,  expressing  in  all  its  activities  abundant 
physical  vigor,  the  young  man  or  woman,  guided 
and  controlled  by  a  keen  intellect  and  vigorous 
will,  comes  during  this  period  into  the  full  heritage 
of  maturity,  and  is  ready  to  make  his  or  her  con- 
tribution in  a  life  of  larger  service. ' ' ' 

Intellectually,  activity,  which  was  one  of  the 
most  marked  characteristics  of  the  preceding 
period,  continues  in  this  and  becomes  more  intense. 
As  a  result  of  the  rapid  and  strong  functioning 
of  the  reasoning  powers,  there  comes  a  spirit  of 
independence  and  a  gradual  diminishing  of  the 
direct  influence  of  teachers  and  companions  through 
suggestion.  The  imitative  tendency  is  rapidly 
passing,  due  to  the  fact  that  young  people  are  now 
setting  up  their  own  standards  of  life  and  conduct; 
and  while  they  are  still  open  to  advice  and  coun- 
sel, they  accept  and  act  upon  only  such  suggestions 
as  appeal  to  their  own  higher  intellectual  powers. 
Individuality  is  the  strongly  marked  characteristic 
of  this  period.  ''Teachers  and  leaders  must  depend 
more,  in  guiding  young  people,  on  a  strong  appeal 
to  the  reason  than  to  the  emotions,  or  to  an  authori- 
tative presentation  which  is  to  be  accepted  without  a 


Pease,  Bible-school  Curriculum    (pp.  305,   306), 
76 


THE  YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  DEPARTMENT 

question."  This  is  the  reason  why  classes  of  young 
people  should  not  be  too  large.  Attention  must  be 
given  to  individual  differences,  interests  and  diffi- 
culties. Questions  must  be  answered  in  the  light  of 
life's  larger  experiences;  doubts  must  be  overcome; 
and  methods  of  teaching  adopted  that  will  not  an- 
tagonize the  free  and  independent  expression  of 
individual  ideas  and  ideals. 

Socially,  the  altruistic  emotions  become  domi- 
nant during  these  years.  Under  normal  environ- 
ment and  with  the  right  kind  of  instruction  there 
is  a  steady  advance  from  selfishness  to  unselfish- 
ness that  is  strong  and  beautiful.  Young  people, 
as  a  rule,  gladly  identify  themselves  with  the  larger 
social  life  of  which  they  form  a  part  and  willingly 
expend  their  time  and  energy  in  service  for  others. 
The  mating  instinct  which  manifests  itself  in  home- 
building  is  at  the  flood-tide  during  this  period.  The 
desire  of  young  women  for  a  ''beau"  and  of  young 
men  for  a  ''sweetheart"  is  natural,  necessary  and 
wholesome,  for  this  is  the  springtime  of  life,  the 
period  of  wooing  and  mating.  During  these  years 
the  romantic  emotions  of  middle  adolescence  become 
the  permanent  and  lasting  sentiments  of  maturity, 
expressing  themselves  in  home-building  and  thus 
insuring  the  perpetuation  of  the  race.  Most  of  the 
moral  tragedies  of  these  years  grow  out  of  the 
illicit  functioning  of  the  mating  instinct,  due 
many  times  to  the  environment  in  which  young 
people  are  compelled  to  mingle  and  mate.  Happy 
fi  77 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

is  that  group  of  young  people  whose  homes  and 
church  provide  a  wholesome  place  for  the  func- 
tioning of  this  one  of  the  deepest  and  most  funda- 
mental of  all  the  instincts  of  the  adolescent  period. 
Professor  Athearn  says:  ''The  instinct  to  found 
a  home  and  to  live  for  one's  family  is  sacred,  and 
the  care  and  interest  of  the  church  should  be 
around  about  youth  at  the  mating-time,  safeguard- 
ing them  from  danger  and  cultivating  the  highest 
ideals   of  marriage,   home   and   parenthood. ' ' ' 

The  period  of  later  adolescence  is  distinctly  a 
period  of  disillusionrrient.  By  far  the  larger  num- 
ber of  young  people  are  at  work  in  the  world  of 
business  and  industry,  a  few  are  idle  in  the  home, 
and  a  small  minority  away  at  college.  The  roseate 
dreams  and  ideals  of  earlier  years  are  a  decided 
contrast  to  the  stern  realities  of  life  as  they  meet 
them,  and  there  comes  as  a  result  disillusionment, 
and  a  necessary  readjustment  of  their  ideas  and 
ideals  in  regard  to  life.  This  changed  viewpoint, 
the  fact  that  so  many  of  them  are  away  from 
home  and  among  strangers,  the  lack  of  sympathy 
on  the  part  of  employers  and  employees,  the  un- 
supplied  need  for  social  intercourse,  fills  young 
people  with  intense  loneliness  and  despondency, 
and  often  drives  them  to  seek  relief  in  amusements 
that  are  unwholesome. 

Religiotisly ,  this  period  is  a  period  of  doubt 
and    perplexity    because    the    age    of    independent 


The   Church  School    (p.   246). 
78 


THE  YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  DEPARTMENT 

thinking  has  come.  Dr.  Starbuck  says:  ''Doubt  is 
a  process  of  mental  clarification;  it  is  a  step  in  the 
process  of  self-mastery;  it  is  an  indication  that  all 
the  latent  powers  are  beginning  to  be  realized.  .  .  . 
Instead  of  trying  to  crush  doubt,  it  would  be  wiser 
to  inspire  earnestness  and  sincerity  of  purpose  in 
the  use  of  it  for  the  discovery  of  truth. ' ' '  Professor 
Coe  says:  ''What  the  adolescent  at  this  time  most 
wants,  after  all,  is  room — room  to  turn  round 
mentally,  to  see  things  from  all  viewpoints;  room 
for  the  many  new  thoughts  which  come  crowding 
in  at  this  time ;  for  that  intellectual  and  emotional 
expansion  which  should  characterize  this  latter 
part  of  the  adolescent  period.  Such  a  period  of 
doubt,  intellectual  activity  and  psychical  recon- 
struction is  of  great  value,  for  the  youth's  mental 
aspirations  are  the  very  sap  of  the  tree  of  knowl- 
edge. "=^ 

Precisely  because  of  this  period  of  doubting 
there  should  be  in  every  church  a  department  for 
young  men  and  women  where  they  may  make  a 
serious  study  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  where 
they  may  freely  present  and  discuss  their  many 
difficulties  and  doubts,  that  as  a  result  of  such 
study  and  discussion  they  may  lay  a  sure  founda- 
tion for  the  faith  that  is  within  them. 

The  religion  of  young  people  is  exceedingly  in- 
tense.    Their  quick  sympathy,  their  self-sacrificing 


Psychology   of  Religion    (pp.    242,    243). 
The  Spiritual  Life    (pp.  63,   64). 
79 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

devotion,  their  intense  loyalty,  their  desire  for  par- 
ticipation in  any  and  every  attractive  cause,  ac- 
counts for  the  fact  that  so  large  a  number  of 
volunteers  for  the  ministry  and  mission  field  enlist 
from  this  group.  It  seems  that  there  is  no  task  too 
large,  no  sacrifice  too  costly,  to  enlist  their  inter- 
est, their  co-operation,  their  support. 

''The  studies  of  Coe,  Starbuck  and  Hall  show 
that  the  last  important  wave  of  conversion  comes 
at  about  the  twentieth  year,  and  that  after  the 
thirtieth  year  only  one  in  a  thousand  ever  turns 
the  face  homeward  toward  God.  Every  effort  on 
the  part  of  the  church  should  be  concentrated  on 
the  securing  of  a  consecration  of  life  to  God  before 
the  close  of  the  adolescent  period. ' ' ' 

Aims,   Standards  and   Tests. 

In  the  light  of  the  characteristics  just  noted, 
what  are  the  outstanding  needs  of  young  people, 
and  what  are  some  of  the  ways  in  which  the  church 
may  meet  these  needs? 

We  are  not  dealing  now  with  boys  and  girls  of 
high-school  age,  but  with  young  men  and  women 
who  are  almost  mature.  They  need,  therefore,  our 
confidence,  our  appreciation,  our  co-operation. 
They  should  have  a  place  and  a  part  in  the  pro- 
gram of  the  church;  training  that  will  fit  them  for 
work  in  the  home,  the  local  church  and  the  com- 
munity;  courses  of  study  selected  with  their  life 


Athearn,  The  Church  School   (p.  245), 
80 


THE  YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  DEPARTMENT 

needs  and  interests  in  mind;  a  separate  depart- 
mental room,  if  possible,  affording  a  meeting-place 
for  constant  social  intercourse  (the  churchy  open 
seven  days  and  nights  a  week,  if  necessary,  should 
be  the  social  center  for  young  people)  ;  and  fre- 
quent challenges  to  enlist  in  the  great  Kingdom- 
building  enterprises  of  the  home  and  foreign  fields. 
What  shall  our  aims  be  as  we  face  the  task  of 
meeting  the  needs  of  this  important  group  in  the 
church's  life? 

1.  To  win  to  Christ  each  young  person  who  has 
not  already  dedicated  his  life  to  Him. 

2.  To  help  these  young  people  maintain  their 
tested  Christian  ideals  in  relation  to  the  practical 
work  of  life  in  and  through  the  disillusionments 
that  are  bound  to  result  as  they  face  the  realities 
of  economic  and  industrial  independence. 

3.  To  prepare  them  for  and  to  help  them  assume 
the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  home-making  and 
citizenship. 

4.  To  prepare  them  for  and  help  them  assume 

\  their  place  in  the  work  of  life  (business,  profes- 
sional, industrial),  that  in  and  through  their  daily 
work  they  may  do  the  will  of  God  and  help  to  pro- 
mote His  Kingdom  in  the  world. 
5.  To  prepare  them  for  and  to  enlist  them  in 
the  work  of  the  church  for  the  community  and  the 
world.' 
^  1917  Minutes  of  the  Sv/nday  School  Ooimcil  of  Evangelical  De- 


nominations  (p.  46). 

81 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

The  department  counselor  and  teachers  will  need 
to  keep  these  aims  constantly  in  mind;  to  weigh 
and  evaluate  courses  of  study,  plans,  methods,  ac- 
tivities, to  see  that  all  that  is  done  contributes  to  the 
realization  of  these  aims,  not  for  the  sake  of  the 
aims,  but  for  the  sake  of  relating  the  life  of  every 
young  person  to  God  and  the  work  of  His  King- 
dom in  the  largest  way.  The  test  of  all  worship, 
all  instruction,  all  training,  is  that  it  function  in 
life  in  the  Jiome,  churcJi,  community  and  world. 

Standards  of  content  are  as  essential  in  the 
Young  People's  department  as  in  any  other.  They 
will  be  based  on  the  courses  of  study  in  use.  In- 
asmuch as  several  elective  courses  are  available,  it 
is  not  within  the  province  of  this  chapter  to  sug- 
gest such  standards  here.  Teachers,  however,  who 
are  to  teach  these  elective  courses  will  find  it  ad- 
vantageous to  go  through  the  courses  of  study  to 
be  taught  in  advance  of  the  pupils,  and  to  deter- 
mine what  portions  of  the  content  should  become 
a  part  of  the  permanent  possession  of  young  peo- 
ple. They  will  make  progress  by  testing  the  results 
of  their  work  from  time  to  time  to  see  how  largely 
the  ideas  and  ideals  presented  are  being  wrought 
out  in  the  life  of  their  students.  It  is  to  the 
shame  of  the  church  that  so  few  young  people  are 
conscious  of  growth  (either  intellectually  or  spirits 
ually)  as  a  result  of  the  hours  spent  in  all  the 
various  organizations  of  the  church  and  in  so-called 
Christian  work. 

82 


THE  YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  DEPARTMENT 

Organization. 

There  is  in  the  minds  of  young  people  (eighteen 
to  twenty-four)  a  sense  of  separateness  from  boys 
and  girls  of  high-school  age,  and  from  those 
who  have  already  taken  upon  themselves  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  adulthood.  This  group  conscious- 
ness exists.  It  may  be  seen  in  any  gathering  of 
people  in  city,  town  or  in  the  open  country.  Not 
to  take  advantage  of  it  invites  failure  in  the 
church  or  in  any  community  enterprise. 

The    organization    of    this    group    in    the    local 
church    should    be    thoroughly    democratic.      The 
officers     (president,    vice-president,    secretary    and  ^ 
treasurer)    will  be  elected  annually  by  the  young    ^ 
people.      The   department   counselar    (superintend-  "  '-^ 
ent)    is   usually   appointed   by   the   church   board, 
the   Committee   on   Religious   Education,    or   what- 
ever body  or  group  selects  teachers  and  officers  for 
the    church's   educational   work.      The   wise   board 
or  committee,  however,  will  look  with  favor  upon 
any  suggestion  that  the  young  people,  themselves, 
may  make  in  regard  to  the  department  counselor. 
The  committees  needed  to  carry  on  the  work  are 
Membership,    Missionary    (or    Service),    Recreation 
and  Program.    Others  may  be  appointed  from  time 
to  time  as  the  needs  of  the  department  may  require. 
Some  departments  have  an  Employment   Commit- 
tee,  whose   function   is   to   work  through  the   Em- 
ployment   Committee    of    the    church    in    locating 

83 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

young  people  in  the  employ  of  Christian  business 
men  and  women.  The  diagram  on  page  55  sug- 
gests the  fonn  of  organization. 

In  work  with  young  people  of  eighteen  to 
twenty-four  the  department  organization,  not  the 
class,  becomes  the  permanent  unit  of  organization. 
Perhaps  the  only  time  the  departmental  group 
will  break  up  into  smaller  units  is  for  classroom 
work  on  Sunday.  The  class  organization  will  not 
be  permanent,  because  the  curricula  for  young 
people  consists  of  elective  courses,  ranging  in 
length  anywhere  from  eight  weeks  to  a  year. 
Several  of  these  elective  courses  may  be  in  progress 
in  the  same  school  at  a  given  time,  the  young  peo- 
ple choosing  the  course  in  which  they  are  most 
interested  and  joining  that  group  for  the  period 
of  the  course.  Wise  teachers  will  not  attempt  to 
keep  intact  a  permanent  organization  for  the  class; 
but  will  use  their  influence  to  make  the  depart- 
ment organization,  life  and  spirit  as  strong  as 
possible.  Pupils  should  be  encouraged  to  elect 
during  the  six  or  eight  years  they  spent  in  the 
Young  People's  department  a  number  of  different 
courses,  that  they  may  be  trained  along  many 
lines,  may  find  the  thing  they  can  do  best,  and  may 
be  helped  to  do  that  thing  in  the  most  efficient 
manner.  This  makes  it  possible  to  correlate  the 
mission-study  work  done  hitherto  in  connection 
with  young  ladies'  circles,  guilds,  etc.,  making  this 
work  one  or  more  of  the   elective  courses   offereii 

84 


THE  YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  DEPARTMENT 

young  people  in  connection  with  the  Sunday  ses- 
sions of  the  church's  school. 

Here,  as  in  the  work  of  the  Intermediate  and 
Senior  group,  the  leadership  of  the  Young  People's 
department  of  the  Sunday  school,  and  the  Young 
People's  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor,  should  be 
unified,  and  the  programs  of  worship,  instruction 
and  activities  correlated.  In  many  churches  this 
will  necessitate  a  grading  of  the  Young  People's 
Society  of  Christian  Endeavor  to  correspond  with 
the  period  of  later  adolescence.  This  is  not  diffi- 
cult, however,  and  has  already  been  done  in  a 
number  of  churches  as  an  efficiency  measure. 

Equipment  and  Program. 

A  separate  assembly-room  for  the  Young  Peo- 
ple's department  is  altogether  desirable  because  it 
recognizes  the  group  consciousness  and  affords  op- 
portunity in  training  young  people  for  leadership. 
Where  such  a  room  is  available,  it  should  be  used. 
The  young  people  themselves  should  be  respon- 
sible both  for  planning  and  conducting  the  opening 
service  of  the  church's  school,  which  will  consist 
of  songs,  prayers,  devotional  Bible  reading,  short 
talks  and  missionary  instruction  of  an  inspirational 
character.  Where  no  such  room  is  available,  the 
Christian  Endeavor  session  of  this  department  will 
afford  some  opportunity  for  training  young  people 
in  self-expression.  Even  in  the  very  small  church 
meeting  in  a  one-room  building,  where  there  is  but 

85 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

one  class  of  young  people  (eighteen  to  twenty- 
four),  some  separation  may  be  worked  out  by 
means  of  folding  screens  or  curtains. 

Ideal  equipment,  however,  will  provide  an 
assembly-room  and  classrooms,  a  library  for  refer- 
ence work,  blackboards,  a  musical  instrument, 
maps,  hymn-books  and  chairs.  Where  the  assembly- 
room  must  be  used  for  classroom  purposes  also, 
the    Tablet    arm-chair    or    movable    assembly-room 


TABLET  ARM-CHAIR* 

*Used   through    the    courtesy    of    the    American    Seating    Company, 
Chicago,  Ills. 

86 


THE  YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  DEPARTMENT 

chair  shoA\rn  on  page  70  is  to  be  preferred.  The 
walls  of  the  departmerxt  should  be  adorned  with  a 
few  well-chosen  and  well-framed  pictures.  The 
following  are   suggestive: 

"Christ  in  Gethsemane/ '  Hofmann. 
"Ecce  Homo,"  Ciseri. 
"The  Light  of  the  World,"  Hunt. 
"The  Last  Supper,"  da  Yinci. 

Pictures  of  the  great  missionaries  of  the  Cross 
will  find  their  place  also,  as  will  recreational  and 
service  posters. 

Programs  of  worship  for  young  people  should 
be  dignified  and  reverent.  Here,  as  in  the  other 
departments  of  the  Secondary  Division,  these  pro- 
grams should  be  builded  around  themes  that  have 
a  more  or  less  universal  appeal  to  the  life  needs 
and  interests  of  young  people.  See  Chapter  VII. 
for  suggestive  programs  and  materials. 

The  outstanding  need  of  the  church  to-day  is 
trained  leaders.  This  need  should  be  kept  in  mind 
in  planning  the  courses  of  study  for  young  peo- 
ple, for  in  this  department  are  to  be  found  the 
teachers  and  leaders  that  must  man  the  educa- 
tional work  of  the  church  of  to-morrow.  Bible 
study,  teacher-training,  mission  study,  studies  in 
personal  evangelism,  should  constitute  the  elec- 
tive courses  offered  to  young  people.  What  elec- 
tive course  could  be  finer  as  a  background  for  the 
study  of  the  new  Standard  Teacher-training  Course 
than   a   three   months'   study   of   the   aims,   themes 

87 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

and  content  of  the  International  Graded  Lessons? 
The  majority  of  picked-up  supply  teachers  from 
young  people's  or  adult  classes  flounder  hopelessly 
in  the  presentation  of  graded  lesson  material  be- 
cause they  do  not  know  the  aims,  plans,  purpose 
or  content  of  the  course  of  lessons  they  are  attempt- 
ing to  teach.  The  following  elective  courses  are 
available  for  young  people's  classes: 

Training. 

*'The  Standard  Teacher-training  Course '^  (interde- 
nominational, and  planned  in  units  of  ten  lessons 
each.     A  diploma  course). 

"The  Pilgrim  Preparatory  Course '*  (one  year).^ 

"Leaders  of  Girls,''  Espey  (a  course  of  training  for 
older  girls  as  leaders  of  younger  girls). 

"Brothering  the  Boy,"  Eafferty  (a  course  of  training 
for  men  and  older  boys  as  leaders  of  younger  boys). 

Bible. 

"Life  of  Christ,"  Stalker. 
"Life  of  Christ,"  Farrar. 

"Studies  of  the  Books  of  the  Bible,"  Stevenson. 
"General   Manual"    (for   the   introduction   and  use   of 
the  International  Graded  Lessons). 

Missions. 

"Servants  of  the  King,"  Speer. 
"Comrades  in  Service,"  Burton. 
"Men  and  Things,"  Atkinson. 
"The  Lure  of  Africa,"  Patton. 


^  A  certificate  course  issued  by  the  Pilgrim  Press,  Boston,  Mass, 
The  leader  of  the  class  will  find  "A  Guide  for  Teachers  of  Training 
Classes"    helpful   with   this    one-year   course. 

88 


THE   YOUNG   PEOPLE'S   DEPARTMENT 

"The  Gospel  for  a  Working  World/'  Ward. 
'^Ancient  Peoples  at  New  Tasks,"  Price. 

Evangelism. 

^'11  Timothy  2:  15,"  Pope. 

^^The  Human  Element  in  the  Making  of  a  Christian," 

Conde. 
' '  Soul- winning, ' '  Violette. 

In  addition  to  the  above  courses,  classes  may 
elect  any  year  of  the  International  Graded  Lessons 
for  the  years  from  seventeen  to  twenty.  The  con- 
tents are  as  follows: 

First  year:  "The  World  a  Field  for  Christian  Service." 
Second  year:  "Old  Testament  History." 
Third  year:  "New  Testament  History." 
Fourth  year:  "The  Bible  and  Social  Living." 

Other  elective  courses  for  young  people  are 
being  released  for  publication  from  time  to  time. 
A  three  months'  course  on  "The  Liquor  Evil"  was 
released  by  the  International  Lesson  Committee  at 
its  last  meeting. 

Activities. 

The  constant  cry  for  social  intercourse  indicates 
the  ever-present  need  of  the  later  adolescent  period 
for  social  recreation.  The  mating  and  home- 
making  instinct  demands  it.  The  home,  of  course, 
would  be  an  ideal  meeting-place  for  young  people; 
but  many  of  these  older  boys  and  girls  are  board- 
ing, and  those  who  are  in  their  own  homes  do  not 

89 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

always  find  the  home  available.  Commercial  inter- 
ests have  been  quick  to  see  this  need  for  constant 
social  intercourse,  and  in  the  poolrooms,  dance- 
halls,  theaters,  amusement  parks,  saloons,  etc.,  are 
providing  the  meeting-place  for  hundreds  and 
thousands.  There  is  no  good  reason  why  young 
people  should  be  found  in  these  places  in  so  large 
numbers  except  that  the  home  and  church  are  so 
often  closed  to  them.  The  social  instincts  of  young 
people  are,  as  a  rule,  clean  and  wholesome.  It  is 
the  duty  of  the  home  and  church  to  co-operate  in 
keeping  them  so,  by  providing  a  meeting-place  for 
these  young  people,  and  then  seeing  to  it  that 
amusements  of  the  right  sort  are  offered.  See 
Chapters  VI.  and  IX.  for  plans  and  suggestive 
activities. 

Then,  too,  these  young  people  need  not  only 
sane  and  safe  amusements,  but  a  place  and  a  part 
in  the  work  of  the  church  in  the  community.  They 
should  be  set  to  work,  studying  the  conditions  in 
their  communities  and  planning  definite  ways  in 
which  the  needs  discovered  may  be  met.  They 
should  have  their  place  in  the  every-member  can- 
vass, evangelistic  campaigns,  community  surveys, 
building-fund  projects,  anything  and  everything 
that  deals  with  the  life  of  the  church  in  the  com- 
munity. From  time  to  time  these  young  people 
should  be  brought  face  to  face  with  the  great 
world  calls  for  service.  The  Christian  physician, 
minister,    lawyer,    nurse,    social    settlement    worker 

90 


THE  YOUNG  PEOPLE^S  DEPARTMENT 

and  returned  missionary  should  come  before  these 
young  people  en  masse  assembly,  challenging  them 
to  a  dedication  of  life  in  service  to  the  ivorid. 
The  missionary  committee  of  the  church  and 
church  school  can  do  no  more  effective  service  than 
to  keep  attractive  posters,  charts  and  reports  con- 
stantly before  the  attention  of  this  potential  group. 
Young  people  are  willing  to  pour  out  their  lives 
to  the  fullest  upon  any  and  every  object  that  com- 
mands their  love  and  loyalty.  The  church  ought 
not  to  let  this  devotion  to  sacrificial  service  go 
unchallenged. 

Teacher  and  Counselor. 

The  power  of  the  teacher  and  leader  of  young 
people  is  past  all  ability  to  compute.  Willingness 
and  the  ability  to  be  in  every  sense  a  companion 
to  young  people  is  the  chief  characteristic  needed; 
for  there  never  is  a  time  when  the  indirect  influ- 
ence of  the  teacher  and  leader  counts  for  more. 
These  young  people  have  passed  the  period  when 
the  teacher  may  dictate.  They  are  able  now  to  do 
their  own  thinking  and  planning;  but,  oh!  how 
they  do  need  the  kindly  counsel  of  a  friend  who 
has  been  a  bit  farther  along  the  pathway  of  human 
experience  to  help  them  interpret  disappointment 
and  disillusionment  in  the  way  that  shall  mean 
most  to  their  own  growth  and  development. 

The  department  counselor's  chief  work  will  be 
in  helping  young  people  to  plan  their  departmental 

91 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

activities  on  a  large  scale.  Upon  his  or  her  should- 
ers rests  the  task  of  seeing  to  it  that  the  depart- 
ment becomes  more  than  just  a  group  of  young 
people  meeting  together  more  or  less  regularly 
for  good  times.  Good  times  are  necessary,  and 
they  will  become  a  regular  feature  of  the  depart- 
ment's program;  but  both  teachers  and  counselor 
have  failed  unless  these  young  people  are  won  to 
Ckristj  trained  for  service,  and  enlisted  in  His 
great  Kingdom-huUding  enterprise.  The  law  of 
the  department  counselor  in  working  with  young 
people  must  always  be:  I  must  decrease,  that 
thou  mayest  increase.  Successful,  indeed,  is  that 
counselor  who  leads  without  young  people  being 
conscious  of  his  or  her  leadership. 

Regular  meetings  of  the  department  council 
will  need  to  be  held  monthly  to  plan  and  outline 
programs  and  methods  of  procedure.  Any  plan 
or  program  outlined,  however,  should  be  brought 
before  the  whole  department  for  discussion  and 
adoption  before  being  launched,  so  that  the  whole 
group  may  work  intelligently  and  co-operatively 
in  bringing  to  pass  the  desired  results.  It  is  well 
for  the  president  of  the  department  to  appoint  a 
poster  committee  from  time  to  time,  to  feature  in 
an  attractive  way  recreational  and  service  pro- 
grams that  have  been  approved  and  adopted  as  a 
working  policy.  These  posters  may  be  hung  in  the 
department  room,  the  vestibule  of  the  church,  and 
in  the  publicity  centers  of  the  community. 

92 


THE  ORGANIZED  SECONDARY  DIVISION 
CLASS 

Purpose. 

INVESTIGATIONS  show  that  practically  75  per 
cent,  of  the  boys  and  girls  in  any  given  com- 
munity are,  or  have  been  during  the  teen  years,  a 
member  of  some  sort  of  a  gang,  class,  club,  clique, 
team  or  set.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the 
social  or  group  instinct  is  a  natural  one.  During 
the  period  of  early  adolescence  (12-14)  the  group 
is  small,  as  a  rule,  ranging  anywhere  from  seven 
or  eight  to  fourteen.  During  the  period  of  middle 
adolescence  (15-18)  the  group  widens  a  bit,  and 
by  the  time  young  people  have  reached  the  later 
adolescent  period  the  group  consciousness  has  suf- 
ficiently widened  as  to  make  the  department,  not 
the  class,  the  natural  unit  of  organization. 

The  purpose  of  class  and  department  organiza- 
tion is  to  take  advantage  of  this  natural,  God-given 
social  or  group  instinct  that  comes  with  adolescence, 
and  to  form  within  the  church,  and  as  an  integral 
part  of  the  church's  educational  program,  organi- 
zations that  will  make  the  largest  possible  appeal 
7  93 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

to  this  budding  social  instinct,  thereby  challenging 
the  loyalty  and  support  of  young  people  to  the 
church  and  the  church's  school. 

The  organized  Secondary  Division  class  is  an 
integral  part  of  the  church,  the  church's  school 
and  the  department  with  which  it  is  connected. 
It  is  not  a  separate  organization  distinct  and  apart 
from  these  larger  bodies,  but  rather  a  small  group 
within  these  larger  ones,  organized  for  the  purpose 
of  developing  initiative  and  of  training  boys  and 
girls  for  definite  Christian  service. 

Advantages. 

The  organized  class  in  the  hands  of  boys  and 
girls,  when  its  organization  and  activities  are 
planned  largely  by  them,  and  its  discipline,  when 
necessary,  administered  by  them,  has  very  decided 
advantages  over  the  unorganized  class. 

1.  It  utilizes  the  social  or  group  instinct,  pro- 
viding an  effectual  channel  through  which  to  train 
boys   and   girls   in   Christian   conduct   and   service. 

2.  It  develops  leadership  by  fiixing  responsibility. 
What  is  everybody's  business  is  nobody's  business. 
The  unorganized  class  is  always  a  ''one-man" 
(usually  a  ''one- woman")  affair.  Organization 
transforms  the  class  from  a  teacher  enterprise  to 
a  pupil,  by  making  each  member  share  in  the  man- 
agement and  direction  of  its  activities. 

3.  It  utilizes  the  energy,  ambition,  the  desire  to 
do  things,  so  characteristic  of  young  people. 

94 


THE    SECONDARY   DIVISION    GLASS 

4.  It  increases  class  spirit,  loyalty  to  the  church 
and  the  church's  school. 

5.  It  encourages  mutual  sympathy,  interest  and 
understanding;  and  strengthens  the  position  of  the 
teacher,  enabling  him  to  become,  more  and  more, 
the  friend  and  counselor  of  each  boy  or  girl. 

Standards. 

But  some  may  raise  the  question:  When  is  a 
Secondary  Division  class  properly  organized? 

1.  When  it  has  enough  officers  and  committees 
to  successfully  carry  on  its  work,  each  actively  ful- 
filling its  separate  function. 

2.  When  it  is  definitely  connected  with,  and 
forms  a  part  of,  some  church  or  Sunday  school. 

3.  When  it  has  regular  Sunday  and  through- 
the-week  or  through-the-month  meetings. 

4.  When  the  age  limits  of  the  class  are  not 
under  twelve  nor  more  than  twenty-four  years. 

5.  When  it  has  a  definite  goal  and  a  working 
program  for  a  given  period  of  time. 

Aims. 

Class  organization  is  of  no  value,  however,  un- 
less the  class  has  some  very  definite  aim,  objective 
or  goal.  The  class  should  share  these  aims  with 
the  teacher,  and  should  see  the  organization  as  the 
channel  through  which  these  aims  are  to  be  ac- 
complished. The  aims  of  the  organized  Secondary 
Division  class  should  be: 

95 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

1.  To  win  the  members  of  the  class  to  personal 
allegiance  to  Jesus  Christ  as  Lord  and  Saviour. 

2.  To  train  the  individual  members  of  the  class 
through  Bible  study  and  correlated  subjects,  Chris- 
tian conduct,  recreation  and  service,  to  embody 
within  themselves  the  Christ  ideal.' 

Plan  of  Organization. 

The  following  outline  gives  in  general  a  plan 
of  organization  that  may  be  changed  and  adapted 
to  meet  the  needs  of  any  group  of  adolescent  boys 
and  girls: 

I.  OFnCERS  (the  ofticers,  except  the  teacher,  are 
elected  by  the  boys  or  girls  from  among 
their  own  number) : 

1.  President. 

2.  Vice-President. 

3.  Secretary. 

4.  Treasurer. 

5.  Teacher    (appointed   by   whatever    committee 

or  body  selects  teachers  and  officers  for  the 
church  school). 

n.  COMMITl^EES: 

1.  As    many    as    are   necessary    to    carry    on    its 
work.     The  following  are  suggestive: 

(1)  Recreation. 

(2)  Membership. 

(3)  Missionary  or  Service. 

(4)  Executive. 

a.  The  Executive  Committee  is  made  up 
of  the  officers  of  the  class  and  the 


Alexander,   The  Boy  and  the  Sunday  School    (p.   76). 
96 


THE    SECONDARY   DIVISION    GLASS 

chairmen  of  standing  or  short-term 
committees.  The  pastor  and  depart- 
ment counselor  are  ex-offioio  mem- 
bers of  the  Executive  Committees 
of  all  the  organized  classes  in  a 
department. 
(5)  Short-term  committees  may  be  appointed 
from  time  to  time,  and,  if  the  class 
prefers,  all  its  committees,  except 
the  Executive,  may  be  short-term. 

in.  MEETINGS: 

1.  Sunday   session    (forty    to    forty-five   minutes 

in   length,    thirty   minutes   of   which   should 
be  devoted  to  lesson  study). 
(1)   Program: 

a.  Opening  service:  Prayer,  report  of  sec- 

retary, reports  of  committees. 

b.  Lesson  period. 
C.  Closing  service. 

2.  Weekly,  monthly  or  semi-monthly  session. 
(1)   Program: 

a.  Varied  to  meet  the  physical,  intellect- 

ual, social  and  service  needs  and 
interests  of  young  people. 

b.  The   program    of    activities   is    usually 

blocked  out  by  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee for  a  period  of  three,  six  or 
nine  months  at  a  time. 

(a)  Submitted  to  the  whole  class  for 

discussion  and  adoption. 

(b)  Details  turned  over    o  the  proper 

committee. 

c.  The    character    of    the    activity    deter- 

mines, as  a  rule,  the  place  of  meet- 
ing. 

97 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

IV.  ACTIVITIES: 

1.  Activities  for  young  people  should  touch  every 

phase  and  interest  of  boy  and  girl  life. 

2.  They  should  be  planned  largely  by  the  young 

people  and  should  interrelate  the  work  of 
the  Sunday  session  with  the  through-the- 
week  life  and  interests  of  pupils.  (See 
Chapter  VI.  for  plans  and  materials.) 

All  the  sessions  of  organized  classes  should  be 
in  charge  of  the  president  or  vice-president,  not 
tJie  teacher.  The  opening  service  on  Sunday  will 
consist  of  a  short  prayer  by  the  president,  by  some 
member  of  the  class,  or  by  the  whole  class  in 
unison.  Short  individual  and  Scripture-sentence 
prayers  by  members  are  to  be  encouraged.  This 
will  be  followed  by  the  reading  of  brief  minutes 
by  the  secretary,  covering  the  Sunday  (last)  and 
mid-week  or  month  activities,  points  brought  out 
by  the  teacher  in  the  last  lesson,  offering,  atten- 
dance, etc.  The  secretary  of  the  class  should  be 
provided  with  a  note-book  and  asked  to  keep  the 
minutes  of  all  meetings  in  writing.  In  this  way 
the  future  secretaries  for  all  phases  of  Chris- 
tian work  may  be  trained  for  this  important 
service.  Chairmen  of  standing  or  short-term 
committees  should  then  be  called  upon  for  brief 
one-minute  reports.  Classes  should  make  it  their 
rule  not  to  transact  any  matters  of  business  in 
the  Sunday  session  that  could  go  over  to  the 
through  the  week  or  month  meetings;  but  an- 
nouncements that  have  to  do  with  class  interests 

98 


THE    SECONDARY   DIVISION    GLASS 

and  activities  should  be  made  in  connection  with 
the  opening  service  of  the  Sunday  session.  If  the 
program  of  activities  has  been  blocked  out  in  ad- 
vance, it  will  require  but  a  minute  for  the  chair- 
men of  committees  to  call  attention  to  the  meetings 
and  work  of  the  week  or  month. 

At  the  close  of  the  opening  service  the  teacher 
takes  charge  of  the  class,  presenting  the  lesson, 
unless  that  work  has  been  assigned,  for  the  day,  to 
some  other  person  or  group,  directing  the  devel- 
opment of  the  lesson,  and  making  assignments 
with  reference  to  the  lesson  or  lessons  that  are  to 
follow. 

The  closing  service  of  the  class  is  in  charge  of 
the  president  or  vice-president.  It  will  consist 
of  sentence  prayers,  silent  prayer  or  concert 
prayer.  Some  classes  have  formally  adopted  some 
Scripture  prayer,  changing  the  wording  so  that  it 
meets  the  needs  of  the  group;  e.  g.,  ''May  the 
words  of  our  mouths  and  the  meditations  of  our 
hearts  be  acceptable  in  thy  sight,  0  Lord,  our 
strength  and  our  redeemer"    (Ps.  19:14). 

How  TO  Organize. 

Read  carefully  the  paragraphs  on  the  purpose, 
advantage,  standards,  aims  and  plan  of  organiza- 
tion. Then  think  the  whole  matter  through  from 
the  viewpoint  of  your  pupils.  Try  to  put  yourself 
in  their  place.  Ask  yourself  whether  or  not  there 
is  anything  in  this  plan  of  organization  that  will 

99 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

help  boys  and  girls  to  develop  into  more  efficient 
Christians.  You,  yourself,  must  believe  thoroughly 
and  enthusiastically  in  the  organized  class  as  a 
means  of  individual  and  group  development,  be- 
fore you  are  ready  to  attempt  the  organization  of 
your  class,  or  can  hope  to  enlist  their  interest  and 
co-operation. 

"When  you  are  persuaded  that  the  organized- 
class-  plan,  intelligently  carried  out,  does  offer  its 
members  the  best  possible  means  of  growth  and 
development,  call  together  two  or  three  of  the 
natural  leaders  in  your  class  and  talk  the  plan 
over  with  them.  Follow  this  with  a  meeting  of 
the  whole  class.  If  possible,  get  one  of  the  natural 
group  leaders  to  present  the  plan  of  organization 
to  the  entire  group.  It  usually  means  that  this 
natural  leader  is  made  the  first  president  of  the 
class. 

Whatever  you  do,  do  not  foist  upon  boys  and 
girls  in  their  teens  ready-made  or  hand-me-down 
organizations.  The  great  Baraca,  the  Philathea 
and  Loyal  Class  movements  are  splendid  for  adult 
classes ;  but  they  have  no  place  in  the  teen  years. 
Whenever  you  fit  one  of  those  ready-made  organi- 
zations down  like  a  hood  over  a  group  of  boys 
and  girls,  you  have  robbed  that  group  of  every 
rightful  chance  they  had  to  grow  through  work- 
ing out  their  own  organization.  Teen-age  boys 
and  girls  are  just  at  the  period  when  they  will  be 
best    developed    by    doing    things    for    themselves. 

100 


THE    SECONDARY   DIVISION   GLASS 


Call  out  in  as  large  a  measure  as  possible  the 
initiative  of  the  members  of  the  class  in  perfect- 
ing the  organization.  Let  them  select  their  own 
class  officers,  name,  motto;  work  out  their  own 
constitution,   pennants,   posters,   etc. 

When  the  organization  has  been  effected,  the 
duties  of  the  officers  and  committees  understood, 
then  make  the  organization  genuine  by  putting 
the  work  of  the  class  into  the  hands  of  boys  and 
girls,  all  details  to  be  carried  out  by  them.  The 
teacher,  in  just  as  large  a  measure  as  possible, 
should  keep  in  the  background. 

Class  Groupings. 

The  experience  of  many  workers  indicates  that 
the  best  results  with  adolescent  boys  and  girls  are 
to  be  obtained  when  the  class  group  is  small, 
varying  in  size  from  seven  or  eight  to  fourteen  or 
sixteen.  We  have  already  noted  that  classes  in 
the  Young  People's  department  will  be  determined 
by  the  number  electing  to  take  any  particular 
course  of  study.  Classes,  however,  under  no  cir- 
cumstances, should  be  so  large  as  to  make  it  im- 
possible for  the  teacher  to  know  and  to  give  per- 
sonal attention  to  the  individual  membersi. 

Neither  is  it  possible  to  get  the  best  result  when 
pupils  from  twelve  to  eighteen  years  of  age  are 
members  of  the  same  class,  for  they  are  living  in 
different  periods  of  development.  Such  a  group- 
ing makes   it  impossible   for  the   program   of   the 

101 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

class  to  meet  the  needs  of  both  the  older  and 
younger  pupils.  A  good  working  basis  is  (12-14), 
(15-17),  (18-24+).  This  is  merely  suggestive. 
The  correct  grouping  ought  to  consider  physical 
and  intellectual  development  as  well  as  age,  and 
adjustments  should  be  made  so  that  the  boy  or  girl 
is  permitted  to  find  his  or  her  natural  group. 

In  working  with  boys  and  girls  from  twelve  to 
eighteen  years  of  age,  it  is  generally  conceded  that 
there  should  be  no  mixed  classes  (boys  and  girls 
together).  In  the  Young  People's  department 
the  sexes  will  be  mixed  or  segregated  according  to 
the  content  of  the  courses  of  study  offered. 

Equipment. 

Separate  classrooms  for  every  class  in  the 
Secondary  Division  is  the  ideal;  and  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  church  of  the  future,  in  planning 
for  its  educational  work,  may  reach  that  ideal. 
Where  this  is  not  possible,  screened  or  curtained 
spaces  will  help  to  make  the  teaching  and  train- 
ing of  the  organized  class  effective.  Ideal  equip- 
ment for  Intermediate,  Senior  and  Young  People's 
classes  will  include  a  room,  a  blackboard,  maps, 
Bibles,  pictures,  curios,  pads  of  paper  for  note- 
taking,  pencils,  and  tables  around  which  the  pupils 
may  gather  for  study  and  work,  or  the  broad- 
armed  tablet  or  assembly-room  chairs  (see  pp.  70-86 
for   diagrams).      The   Moulthrop   table   chair-desk,' 


See  the  catalogue  of  the  American  Seating  Company,  Chicago,  Ills. 
102 


THE    SECONDARY   DIVISION    GLASS 


which  is  rapidly  taking  the  place  of  stationary 
desks  in  the  public  schools,  is  ideal  in  that  it  is 
equipped  with  a  pull-out  drawer  under  the  seat, 
providing  a  place  in  which  the  pupil's  material- 
Bible,  note-book,  pencil,   etc.— may  be  kept. 


MOULTHROP  TABLE  CHAIR-DESK* 

_  *Used    through    the    courtesy    of    the    American    Seating    Company, 
Chicago,    nis.  *'     j> 

Class  Names  and  Mottoes. 

A  class  name  is  desirable  because  it  helps  to 
create  class  spirit,  as  well  as  to  advertise  the  work 
of  the  class.  Some  schools  number  or  letter  the 
classes  to  indicate  their  relation  to  the  church's 
school.      In    others,    the    classes    choose    names    of 

103 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

Bible  characters — ''Queen  Esther,"  ''Knights  of 
St.  Paul,"  etc.  Some  classes  choose  names  that 
indicate  the  spirit  of  the  class;  as,  "Willing 
Workers,"  "Play  Square  Gang,"  etc.  Still  others 
use  letters— the  "K.  Y.  L.  Class,"  "Delta  Alpha," 
etc.  In  other  schools,  where  the  Triangle  Club 
work  is  being  correlated  with  the  organized-class 
work,  classes  are  calling  themselves  the  "Living- 
stone Triangle,"  the  "Moffat  Triangle"  or  "Dye 
Triangle."  The  author  found  one  church  on  the 
Pacific  coast  in  which  all  the  classes  in  the  Inter- 
mediate department  were  named  for  living  mis- 
sionaries, and  all  had  their  class  mottoes  suggested 
by  these  living  missionaries. 

The  class  motto  is  equally  important  with  the 
class  name,  especially  if  it  embodies  in  some  way 
the  class  aim  and  spirit.  The  following  are  sug- 
gestive: "Play  Square,"  "Get  the  Other  Fellow," 
"Be  Strong,"  "We  Do  Things,"  "We  Mean  Busi- 
ness," "Messengers  of  the  Queen,"  "Onward," 
etc. 

Class  Records  and  Credits. 

There  should  be  a  more  or  less  uniform  system 
of  records  and  credits  for  all  classes  in  the  Inter- 
mediate, Senior  and  Young  People's  departments, 
for  these  are  the  years  when  habits  become  fixed 
and  life's  ideals  permanently  established. 

"Regularity  in  attendance  and  punctuality  are 
desirable  on  the  part  of  all,  not  only  for  the  sake 

104 


THE    SECONDARY    DIVISION    GLASS 

of  the  school,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  habit  which 
is  becoming  fixed  during  these  years.  Young  peo- 
ple learn  to  practice  the  principles  of  Christian 
giving  by  giving  regularly,  systematically  and  in- 
telligently to  all  the  various  phases  of  the  work 
during  the  years  in  which  they  are  receiving  Chris- 
tian training.  They  will  become  proficient  in  the 
use  of  their  Bibles  to  the  extent  that  they  learn  to 
use  them  intelligently  during  these  years.  Regularity 
in  church  attendance  is  essential  to  those  who 
would  learn  to  worship  in  spirit  and  truth.  Home 
study,  carefully  planned  and  wisely  assigned  from 
week  to  week  by  the  teacher  who  confidently  ex- 
pects definite  work,  will  help  the  pupil  to  take  a 
rightful  attitude  toward  Christian  education. 
Since  all  these  things  are  desirable,  and  necessary 
to  the  growth  and  progress  of  the  pupil,  a  definite 
system  of  credits  and  records  is  essential. " ' 

The  department  counselor  (superintendent) 
and  teachers  should  work  out  a  uniform  credit 
system  for  all  the  classes  in  a  given  department. 
The  points  suggested  on  page  51  of  Chapter  II. 
are  suggestive.  Every  Sunday  the  record  of  each 
pupil  on  each  point  should  be  made,  and  at  the 
end  of  the  quarter  the  totals  copied  in  the  depart- 
ment superintendent's  (counselor's)  permanent 
record-book.    The  Graded  Credit  System,"*  Student's 


^  Irvin,   The  Modern  Sunday  School:   Its  Organization  amd  Equip- 
ment   (p.   50). 

2  See   A    Worker's  Mantual,  by   Irvin    (pp.    7-11),    Christian    Board 
of  Publication,    St.   Louis,  Mo. 

105 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

Credit  Card  and  Department  Superintendent's 
Permanent  Record  for  Intermediate,  Senior  and 
Young  People's  Classes  (diagrams  shown  on  the 
opposite  page)  are  ideal. 

Teachers. 

The  gravest  problem  of  the  church  and  church 
school  to-day,  as  it  faces  the  needs  of  boys  and 
girls  in  the  climacteric  years  of  adolescence,  is  the 
lack  of  trained  leadership.  The  organized  Adult 
Class  Movement  has  helped  somewhat  to  solve  this 
problem;  but  there  is  still  a  very  great  dearth  of 
real,  live,  wide-awake,  intelligent  leadership  for 
these  years.  The  qualifications  required  for  teach- 
ers of  Intermediiate,  Senior  and  Young  People's 
classes  differ  from  those  required  for  teachers  in 
other  departments.  The  fundamental  qualifica- 
tions, such  as  Christian  character,  human  sym- 
pathy, faithfulness,  etc.,  are  essential  here  as  in 
all  other  departments;  but  the  successful  teacher 
of  adolescents  must  have  in  addition  intelligent 
insight  into  boy  and  girl  life,  initiative  (leader- 
ship), consecration,  and  adequate  preparation. 
The  selection  of  just  any  one  to  teach  teen-age 
and  Young  People's  classes  is  a  fatal  mistake. 
These  boys  and  girls  of  high-school  and  college  age 
quickly  detect  inefficiency  and  indifference  on  the 
part  of  teachers.  They  are  just  at  the  time  when, 
if  they  are  to  be  held  to  the  church,  they  must 
have  the  ablest  teachers  that  can  possibly  be  pro- 

106 


STUDENT'S  CRK)rr  CARD 

INTBKMEOIATB.  BBNIOR  AND  TOUNO  PBOFLS 


^ 

ri... 

rv.» 

SUNDAYS 

■■" 

's 

» 

t 

» 

e 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

- 

It 

PrMeot 

OoTime 

(__ 

Offarnw 

BM«  (U»  oO 

Alrigoed  Work 

ClwrA  Attenduu:. 



a>»l< 







1 



^ 

jJ 

ss- 

Department  Superintendent's 

Permanent  Record 

Interme<fiate,  Senior  and  Young  People 


PupiTs  Name 

Date  of  Enrollment 

Address 

Phone 

Aee            Birthday 

PubUc  School  Grade 

Member  of  Church 

Where 

Joined  Church 

How 

Father 

Church 

Mother    , 

Church 

Assigned  to  Qass 

Transferred 

Ust  to  School 

Cause 

|[lnform.tioo  Copied  from  Studenr" 

.  Credit  Card) 

YEAR 

A.CT.,.  (or  Y« 

A,»„.  ,or  Y»r 

Av„^  („  Y-. 

FIRST 

SECOND 

THIRD 

Quarter 

1 

2 

:   3 

4 

I 

2 

3 

4 

1 

2 

3 

4 

PrcKol 

0»  Time 

Offerinj 

Bible  (Um  oO 

Annincd  Work 

Churob 
Atteadmce 

Gr«le 

L... 

The  "Student's  Credit  Card"  and  "Department  Superintendent's 
Permanent  Record"  shown  above  are  used  with  the  permission  of  the 
Christian  Board  of  Publication,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 


THE    SECONDARY   DIVISION   GLASS 


vided.  Teachers  of  these  classes  should  be  gradu- 
ates of  an  accredited  Teacher-training  Course  or 
its  equivalent,  and  should  continue  their  study 
and  specialization  by  attending  conventions,  insti- 
tutes, schools  of  methods,  and  community  training- 
schools. 

At  no  other  time  is  the  need  for  men  teachers 
of  boys'  classes  and  -women  teachers  for  girls' 
classes  so  necessary  as  during  the  years  from  twelve 
to  eighteen.  The  physical  changes  that  are  taking 
place  during  these  years,  and  the  consequent  new 
adjustments,  call  for  the  most  sympathetic  rela- 
tionship between  teacher  and  pupil.  Teachers  of 
the  opposite  sex  can  not  enter  into  the  inner  lives 
of  their  pupils  at  the  point,  often,  of  greatest  need. 

Correlation. 

In  these  days  of  economic  and  industrial  pres- 
sure and  of  organizations  without  number,  both 
inside  and  outside  the  church,  teachers  and  lead- 
ers of  young  people's  organizations  of  similar  ages 
Avithin  the  church  should  endeavor  to  unify  the 
leadership  and  correlate  the  program  of  Sunday 
and  through-the-week  activities  of  these  organiza- 
tions so  as  to  avoid  all  needless  duplication  and 
afford  the  largest  possible  training  with  the  mini- 
mum of  machinery. 

Many  churches  are  now  correlating  the  work  of 
Triangle  clubs,  mission  bands,  young  ladies'  cir- 
cles, guilds,  etc.,  with  the  through-the-week  activi- 
8  107 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

ties  of  organized  Intermediate,  Senior  and  Young 
People's  classes.  This  is  a  hopeful  sign,  and  should 
be  encouraged  because  it  looks  toward  a  more  com- 
plete, full-rounded  Christian  education  for  the 
youth  of  the  church.  The  church's  school  touches 
more  young  people  than  any  other  organization  in 
the  church's  life.  Its  groupings  (departmental 
and  class)  are  based  upon  natural  life  periods  and 
life  interests;  it  affords,  therefore,  the  logical 
working  basis  for  the  correlation  of  things  neces- 
sary to  the  Christian  education  of  boys  and  girls 
and  young  people. 

International  Recognition. 

A  great  many  communions  issue  a  certificate, 
or  charter  of  recognition,  to  organized  Secondary 
Division  classes.  Some  have  only  a  seal,  which 
may  be  placed  on  the  certificate  issued  by  the  In- 
ternational Sunday  School  Association.  When 
a  class  has  completed  its  organization,  an  appli- 
cation '  for  a  certificate  of  recognition  should 
be  made,  either  to  your  own  Sunday-school 
headquarters,  or  to  the  State  or  Provincial  office 
of  the  International  Sunday  School  Association. 
Upon  the  receipt  of  this  application  with  twenty- 
five  cents,  a  beautiful  lithographed  certificate, 
suitable  for  framing  for  classroom  use,  will  be 
issued. 


^  Blank  application  forms  may  be  secured  from  your  own   Sunday- 
school  headquarters  or  from  the  State  or  Provincial  Association  office. 

108 


THE    SECONDARY   DIVISION   GLASS 

The  royal  blue  and  white  button  (white  center 
with  blue  rim)  has  been  adopted  as  the  inter- 
national emblem  of  the  Secondary  Division.  The 
blue  indicates  loyalty,  and  the  white,  purity. 
These  buttons  may  be  secured  from  any  publishing- 
house  handling  Bible-school  supplies,  and  are  fre- 
quently presented  to  the  class  by  the  teacher,  with 
the  certificate. 

The  certificate,  the  registration  and  the  button 
help  to  link  the  class  with  the  great  church-school, 
world-wide  brotherhood  of  Young  People's  classes. 


109 


VI 


A  FOURFOLD  PROGRAM  FOR  DEVELOPING 
LIFE 

ANY  program  of  Christian  education  that  does 
not  recognize  the  physical,  intellectual,  social 
and  spiritual  needs  and  interests  of  young  people 
is  incomplete.  Life  functions  as  a  unit.  You  can 
not  save  the  souls  of  boys  and  girls  if  they  are 
living  in  accursed  physical  bodies;  you  can  not 
save  the  souls  of  boys  and  girls  if  they  are  living 
in  an  immoral  mental  world ;  you  can  not  save  the 
souls  of  boys  or  girls,  or  men  and  women,  if  their 
social  relationships  with  all  other  boys  and  girls  and 
men  and  women  are  not  clean  and  pure  and  whole- 
some altogether.  The  only  way  to  reach  the  soid 
is  tJirougJi  the  body,  for,  as  Grenfell  notes,  ''when 
the  soul  has  cast  off  its  body  we  can  not  reach  it 
at  all."  This  makes  a  fourfold  program  of  Chris- 
tian education  essential  to  the  complete  develop- 
ment of  young  people.  In  times  gone  by,  the  great 
mass  of  Sunday-school  teachers  had  no  sense  of 
responsibility  for  other  than  the  spiritual  develop- 
ment of  their  pupils.  They  did  not  look  upon  it 
as  their  religious  duty  to  encourage  physical,  intel- 

110 


A    FOURFOLD    PROGRAM 


lectual  and  social  growth.  They  taught  a  twenty 
or  thirty  minute  Bible  lesson  once  a  week  without 
a  thought  as  to  how  the  ideas  and  ideals  presented 
were  to  be  wrought  out  in  the  life  of  the  pupils. 
Not  so  to-day.  Christian  teachers  and  leaders  of 
our  time  are  beginning  to  sense  the  need  for  an 
all-round  symmetrical  development;  and,  in  the 
program  of  through  the  week  and  month  activities 
for  their  classes,  are  giving  young  people  the  in- 
spiration and  training  that  look  toward  this  com- 
plete, full-round  fourfold  growth. 

The  fundamental  law  in  human  development  is 
activity.  Expression  deepens,  and  in  a  very  large 
measure  determines,  impression.  Professor  Coe 
says:  ''Life  develops,  learns  both  to  know  and  to 
do,  by  doing."'  The  passion  of  young  life  is  for 
expression;  and  it  is  this  very  demand  on  the  part 
of  youth  to  live  the  tJiing  it  is  thinking  about  that 
affords  the  church  its  opportunity  to  fix  ideals  and 
determine  development  by  guiding  and  directing 
the  activity  life  of  hoys  and  girls. 

This  demand  for  activity  is  not  confined  to  one 
day  in  the  week.  The  same  bundle  of  instincts 
that  impels  to  action  on  Monday,  Tuesday  and 
Wednesday,  impels  to  action  on  Sunday,  and  the 
reverse  is  also  true.  Young  people  are  just  as 
active  on  Sunday  as  they  are  on  the  other  days 
of  the  week;  and  they  are  just  as  religious  on  Sun- 
day as  they  are  on  other  days  of  the  week,  and  not 


^  Education  in  Religion  and  Morals,  Chap.  VII. 
Ill 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

more  so.  They  make  little  or  no  distinction  be- 
tween things  secular  and  things  spiritual.  A 
trip  to  the  woods  or  to  some  educational  or  benevo- 
lent institution,  a  game  of  volley-ball  or  basket- 
ball, a  vocational  or  life  talk,  the  reading  aloud  of 
some  good  book — any  or  all  of  these  things  may 
afford  just  as  fine  an  opportunity  for  teaching  the 
eternal  truths  of  God  as  the  classroom  session  on 
Sunday.  And  the  earlier  the  church  awakens  to 
this  fact  and  ties  up  the  through- the- week  life  and 
interests  of  young  people  with  the  Sunday  life, 
by  guiding  and  directing  the  through-the-week 
activities  of  youth,  the  better  it  will  be  for  all 
concerned. 

Class  Organization. 
The  organized  Secondary  Division  class  is  the 
normal  center  for  the  interests  and  activities  of 
the  youth  of  the  church,  else  impression  and  ex- 
pression are  divorced,  and  they  may  not  be.  It  is 
suicidal  to  attempt  to  teach  the  great  truths  of 
God  in  the  Sunday  sessions  without  making  the 
through-the-week  sessions  of  the  class  a- laboratory 
for  the  expression  of  these  truths.  The  church 
school  in  its  outreach  into  the  life  of  boys  and 
girls  should  touch  every  life  interest  and  life  situ- 
ation. „  Young  people  should  come  to  look  upon 
the  organized  class  as  the  center  of  their  interests 
and  activities.  Its  through-the-week  programs 
should  be  so  planned  as  to  train  the  whole  life  of 
young  people   by   giving   opportunity   for  the   ex- 

112 


A    FOURFOLD    PROGRAM 


pression    of    the    physical,    intellectual,    social    and 
religious  life  in  service. 

The  first  step  is  to  organize  the  class.  The 
organization  should  make  it  possible  to  use  every 
member  of  the  class  in  some  way.  As  soon  as  the 
organization  has  been  effected,  there  should  be  a 
called  meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee  to  talk 
over  and  outline  a  definite  program  of  activities  in 
line  with  the  interests  and  needs  of  the  pupils. 
When  this  program  has  been  outlined,  it  should  be 
brought  up  at  the  next  regular  through-the-week 
meeting  of  the  class  for  discussion,  correction  and 
adoption.  The  details  for  the  various  activities 
outlined  may  then  be  turned  over  to  the  proper 
standing  or  short-term  committees  for  execution. 
Classes  that  are  making  the  greatest  progress  in 
the  way  of  fourfold  development  are  outlining  their 
through-the-week  activities  for  three,  six,  nine 
months  and  a  year  at  a  time.  The  following  pro- 
gram, outlined  and  adopted  by  a  class  of  girls  in 
the  middle  teens  as  a  working  basis  for  the  fall 
quarter  is  suggestive: 

October. 

First     Week — Story     hour     (Program     Committee     in 
charge). 

Second  Week — Campfire  marshmallow  roast,  stories  and 
games   (Social  Committee). 

Third   Week-Volley-ball;    challenged   another   class   of 
girls  to  a  match  game  (Athletic  Committee). 

Fourth   Week— Dressed   dolls   for   the   Orphans'   Home 
(Service  Committee). 

113 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

November. 

First  Week — Story  hour  (Program  Committee). 

Second  Week — Chafing-dish  party  (Social  Committee). 

Third  Week — Volley-ball;  all  the  girls  in  the  depart- 
ment in  a  match  game  (Athletic  Interclass  Com- 
mittee). 

Fourth  Week — Made  aprons  for  orphan  children  (Ser- 
vice Committee). 

December. 

First  Week — Story  hour   (Program  Committee). 

Second  Week— ^Salmagunda  social;  girls'  class  enter- 
tained the  Play  Square  Gang  class  (Social  Com- 
mittee). 

Third  Week — Filled  surprise  bags  for  community  Christ- 
mas tree  (Service  Committee). 

Fourth  Week — Moonlight  trip  to  the  Orphans'  Home, 
to  tell  stories  to  orphan  children  (Program  Com- 
mittee). 

The  girls  in  this  class  met  from  2:30  to  4:30 
p.  M.  on  Saturday  afternoon  (unless  the  activity 
called  for  an  evening  meeting).  They  gave  the 
first  Saturday  afternoon  each  month  to  story-tell- 
ing, using  Professor  St.  John's  book,  "Stories  and 
Story  Telling,"  as  the  basis  of  their  story  work. 
Their  aim  was  to  master,  through  study  and  prac- 
tice, the  art  of  retelling  short  stories.  The  story 
period  included  the  reading  aloud,  as  they  sat  in 
a  circle,  of  one  chapter  from  the  book.  This  was 
followed  by  a  brief  discussion  and  summary,  led 
by  one  of  the  girls  to  whom  the  task  had  been 
previously  assigned.     After  the  discussion,  two  or 

114 


A    FOURFOLD    PROGRAM 

three  short  stories  were  retold  by  the  girls,  and 
then  the  critic  for  the  afternoon  made  her  report, 
emphasizing  the  strong  and  weak  points  in  the 
light  of  what  they  had  learned  from  their  text- 
book study.  The  story  hour  was  followed  by  a 
fun  period  (games  of  all  kinds),  light  refreshments 
and  adieus.  The  class  met  usually  at  the  home  of 
one  of  the  girls,  occasionally  at  the  home  of  the 
teacher.  By  the  tim_e  this  class  of  girls  had  fin- 
ished the  Intermediate  Graded  Lessons,  they  had 
turned  back  into  the  Primary  and  Junior  depart- 
ments, as  teachers  or  helpers,  eight  of  their 
number;  and  the  department  superintendents,  com- 
menting upon  their  work,  said  they  were  the  best 
teachera  in  their  departments,  because  they  knew 
how  to  tell  Bible  stories  in  such  an  interesting 
way. 

There  ought  always  to  be  a  regular  order  of 
procedure  for  these  through- the- week  meetings. 
The  following  is  suggestive: 

1.  Meeting  opened  by  the  president  or  vice-president 
with  prayer. 

2.  Reading  of  the  minutes  of  the  last  meeting  by  the 
secretary.  The  minutes  should  include  (1)  items  of 
interest  in  reg^ard  to  the  standing  of  the  class  as 
compared  with  other  clnsses  in  the  department;  and 
(2)  a  brief  review  of  the  leading  points  taught  in 
the  lesson  for  the  Sunday  or  Sundays  past. 

3.  Business  items,  including  challenges  from  other 
classes,  announcements  of  interclass  and  department 
activities,  etc.     These^  should  be  talked  over  by  the 

115 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

president  and  chairmen  of  committees  in  advance,  so 
as  not  to  consume  too  much  time  at  the  meeting. 
4.  The   program   for   the   afternoon   or   evening,   as   ar- 
ranged by  the  standing  or  short-term  committee. 

Physical  Program. 

But  some  may  raise  the  question:  Why  should 
physical  activities  have  a  place  in  the  through  the- 
week  program  of  organized  classes?  Because  the 
''basis  of  all  development  is  physical";  because  of 
the  rapid  physical  growth,  and  increase  both  in 
quantity  and  temperature  of  the  blood  during  the 
adolescent  years;  because  of  the  ceaseless  activity 
constantly  generating  energy;  ''because  self-control 
and  the  development  of  all  the  higher  moral  and 
intellectual  powers  depend  upon  the  proper  inter- 
action of  nerves  and  muscles;  because  adolescence 
is  the  age  of  nerve  and  muscle  education;  because 
ninety-five  per  cent,  of  all  interests  find  physical 
expression;"  because  Jesus  is  the  physical  as  well 
as  the  intellectual,  social  and  spiritual  ideal  of 
adolescence.  (See  Luke  2  :  52  ;  10  :  27  ;  1  Cor.  6 :  19, 
20;  Rom.  12:1;  3  John  2.)  Margaret  Slattery, 
speaking  of  the  physical  side  of  the  girl  in  her 
teens,  says:  "As  long  as  we  live,  the  physical  will 
be  with  us;  it  is  not  to  be  despised,  but  respected; 
not  to  be  ignored,  but  developed ;  not  to  be  abused, 
but  used.  It  demands  obedience,  and  exacts  pen- 
alty when  its  laws  are  broken. ' ' '  The  physical  life 
is  important  because  of  its  spiritual  relationships. 


^  The   Girl  in  Her   Teens    (p.    26), 
116 


A    FOURFOLD    PROGRAM 


Therefore  Paul  could  say ;  ' '  Know  ye  not  that  your 
body  is  a  temple  of  the  Holy  Spirit?" 

If  all  boys  and  girls  were  in  the  public  schools, 
and  the  public  schools   everywhere   gave   attention 
to  this  matter  of  directing  the  physical  growth  and 
development  of  the  body,  then  the  church's  school 
might  dismiss  the  physical  life  and  needs  of  young 
people    from    its    consideration.      Statistics    show, 
however,  that  fifty-two  per  cent,   of  the  boys  and 
girls  in  the  United  States  are  no  longer  enrolled  in 
the  public  schools  by  the  time  they  reach  thirteen 
years  of  age;  that  only  ten  per  cent,  of  the  total 
enrollment  ever   go   as   far  as   to   complete  a   full 
four-year  high-school  course.     For  the  sake,   then, 
of  the  more  than  fifty- two  per  cent,  not  enrolled 
in   the   public   schools,    and   in   view   of   the   large 
number  of  cities,  towns  and  rural  communities  in 
which  the  public  school  is  giving  no   attention  to 
the   matter  of  directing  the   physical   growth   and 
development  of  young  people,  the  church's  school, 
if  it  meets  the  whole  needs  of  boys  and  girls,  must 
build   into    the   through-the-week   programs    of   its 
organized  classes  activities  that  will  help  the  body 
to  develop  normally. 

This  does  not  mean  that  every  church  must 
have  a  gymnasium,  clubrooms,  etc.  (it  would  be 
splendid,  indeed,  if  every  church  could  have  such 
equipment)  ;  but  it  does  mean  that  churches  not 
so  equipped  should  plan  the  through-the-week 
activities  of  organized  classes  in  such  a  way  as  to 

117 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

give   some   coiiiiideration   to   the   physical   life   and 
needs  of  young  people. 

Physical  programs  for  young  people  should 
include ; 

1.  HEALTH  EDUCATION.— A  knowledge  of  the  laws 
of  health.,  and  facts  that  will  help  young  people  to  attain 
to  Christ's  ideal  for  the  body.  Talks  on  personal  habits 
that  make  for  good  health,  such  as  exercise,  regular  sleep, 
diet,  baths,  fresh  air,  care  of  eyes,  nails,  teeth,  the  laws 
of  recreation,  hiking,  etc.^ 

2.  OUTDOOR  LIFE.— Life  in  the  open  is  one  of  the 
most  valuable  factors  in  securing  health  and  physical 
vigor.^  It  needs  especially  to  be  emphasized  in  the  life  of 
employed  boys  and  girls.  Observation  trips,  hikes,  picnics, 
camping,  etc.,  should  be  included  in  the  programs  of  young 
people. 

3.  SPOETS. —  (1)  Individual,  such  as  tennis,  croquet, 
golf,  skating,  brevit  and  quoits.  (2)  Group  games,  such 
as  three-deep,  pass-ball,  dodge-ball,  bean-bags,  etc.  (3) 
Team  games,  such  as  baseball,  volley-ball,  basket-ball, 
hockey,  cricket,  etc.  (4)  Water  sports,  including  swim- 
ming, rowing,  diving,  water-ball,  ©tc.^ 

4.  FIRST  AID  AND  HOME  NURSING.— An  elemen- 
tary knowledge  of  these  subjects.  Where  practicable,  a 
brief  "First  Aid"  and  ''Home  Nursing"  course.* 

Intellectual  Program. 

In  any  four-square  scheme  of  development  the 
intellectual  needs  and  interests  must  be  fully  recog- 
nized, because  the  mind  is  the  controller  of  the 
body.  It  is  the  knowing  power,  the  feeling  power, 
the   willing   power   in    human   life,    and   therefore 


^  ^  *  Canadian  Girls  in  Training    (pp.    10,    11). 
^  The  American  Standard  Program  for  Boys    (p.   33). 
118 


A    FOURFOLD    PROGRAM 

cotitrols  in  a  very  large  measure  all  higher  moral 
and  spiritual  development.  It  is  capable  of  won- 
derful growth,  and  it  is  during  the  teens  and  early 
twenties  that  its  most  wonderful  growth  takes 
place.  Jesus  recognized  the  importance  of  the 
mind  in  his  teaching,  for  did  he  not  say,  *'As  a 
man  thinketh  in  his  heart  [mind],  so  is  he"? 
Teachers  and  leaders  of  adolescents  should  encour- 
age every  boy  and  girl  to  so  develop  the  intellect 
as  'Ho  think  clearly,  choose  wisely,  and  act  cor- 
rectly in  all  the  experiences  of  life."  Young 
people  need  to  be  helped,  especially  in  these  days 
when  economic  and  industrial  pressure  tends  to 
crowd  out  the  development  of  the  higher  intellec- 
tual and  cultural  studies,  to  see  what  a  heritage 
God  has  given  them  in  the  power  to  enter  into  the 
world  of  literature,  science,  music  and  art,  and 
there  to  gain  possessions  for  life  that  will  relax 
their  hold  on  lower  instincts  and  interests. 

Intellectual  programs  for  young  people  should 
include : 

1.  SCHOOL,  COLLEGE  OR  VOCATIONAL  TRAIN- 
ING.— Intellectual  growtli,  as  represented  by  school  and 
college  attendance,  is  not  always  popular  with  young  peo- 
ple. They  need  to  be  inspired  to  make  such  decisions  with 
reference  to  higher  education  as  will  make  it  possible  for 
them  to  make  the  largest  contribution  in  life  because  of 
adequate  intellectual  preparation.  Then,  too,  entrance  into 
the  world  of  business  or  industry  so  often  marks  the  end 
of  systematic  mental  and  cultural  growth  for  young  people. 
This  false  idea  may  be  overcome  by  getting  them  to  pursue 

119 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

night  school,  correspondence  and  special  courses/  '  Voca- 
tional and  life-work  talks  should  therefore  find  their  place 
in  the  through- the-week  activities  of  boys'  and  girls' 
classes. 

2., EDUCATIONAL  TRIPS  AND  LECTURES.— Visits 
to  public  buildings  and  institutions,  places  of  historic  inter- 
est, museums,  factories,  etc.  Attendance  at  lectures  of 
educational  value  tends  to  enlarge  the  ideas  and  ideals  of 
young  people.^ 

3.  HOME  READING. — The  cultivation  of  a  high  stand- 
ard in  one's  own  personal  reading,  the  use  of  the  public 
library,  the  making  of  collections  of  good  books,  will  en- 
large their  world  of  appreciation.  Teachers  may  be  help- 
ful in  suggesting  worth-while  books  for  young  people  to 
read  in  the  realm  of  biography,  history,  travel,  stories, 
fiction  and  science.  Story  hours  and  book  reviews  are 
helpful  means  of  inspiration. 

4.  HOME  CRAFT  AND  HAND  CRAFT.— Including 
practical  knowledge  and  ability  in  the  management  of  the 
home,  cooking,  dressmaking,  millinery,  laundering,  market- 
ing, etc'  Manual  work,  including  carpentering,  wood- 
carving,  basketry,  pyrography,  gardening,  etc. 

5.  MUSIC  AND  ART. — Knowledge  of  great  composers 
and  their  works,  including  great  hymns  and  hymn-writers. 
Ability  to  play  or  sing.  Knowledge  of  architecture,  sculp- 
ture, famous  pictures.  Ability  to  draw,  paint,  design, 
sketch  or  illustrate  should  be  encouraged.* 

6.  LITERARY  ABILITY. — Including  conversation,  ex- 
temporaneous talks,  debates,  story  hours,  dramatics,  etc., 
should  be  emphasized.  The  author  recalls  a  class  of  young 
men  (most  of  them  city  salesmen)  who  made  a  study  of 
salesmanship  one  of  the  regular  activities  of  their  through- 
the-week  meetings. 


^  The    American   Standard   Program   for   Boys    (pp.    24,    25). 
^^*  Canadian  Girls  in  Training   (p.  12). 
120 


A    FOURFOLP    PROGRAM 


Social  and  Service  Programs. 

''Life  is  not  lived  in  isolation,  but  in  social 
groups,  the  home,  school,  church  and  community; 
and  the  Christian  law  for  all  these  relationships  is 
love,  expressing  itself  in  service."  This  is  nowhere 
more  evident  than  with  young  people.  The  youth 
of  the  world  get  together  for  work,  for  recreation, 
for  service.  The  task  of  the  church  is  to  provide, 
control  and  properly  environ  the  social  relation- 
ships of  young  people  so  that  they  will  become 
constructive  in  the  building  of  character.  Mar- 
garet Slattery,  speaking  of  the  social  needs  of  teen- 
age girls,  says:  "If  the  opportunity  to  choose  came 
to  me,  as  to  Solomon,  I  would  rather  have  the 
knowledge  and  power  to  give  the  young  people  of 
to-day  sane,  safe  amusements  than  anything  else  I 
know. ' " 

The  church  must  face  the  fact  that  the  social 
instinct  and  the  instinct  to  play  are  just  as  natural 
and  normal  in  human  life  as  physical  hunger ;  that 
the  demand  of  the  mind  and  the  body  for  social 
intercourse,  for  recreation  and  amusement  of  one 
type  or  the  other,  is  just  as  insistent  in  its  way  as 
the  demand  of  the  stomach  for  food.  The  world 
must  live  together,  work  together,  play  together; 
and  always  and  everywhere  among  those  who  live 
and  work  and  play,  the  young  are  the  more  eager. 
The  through-the-week  programs  of  organized  classes 


^  The  Oirl  in  Her  Teens   (pp.  67,   68). 
121 


YOUTH    AND   THE    CHURCH 

should  provide  opportunity  for  the  expression  of 
the  three  great  passions  of  youth,  work,  love  and 
play  in  service  to  others. 

Social  and  service  programs  for  young  people 
should  include: 

I.  ABILITY  TO  ENTERTAIN.— Including  (1)  socials 
of  all  kinds:  Best-girl  night,  best-fellow  social,  parents' 
night,  father  and  son  spread,  mothers'  reception,  masked 
parties,  taffy-pull,  class  guest  or  class  spread,  banquets, 
indoor  track-meets,  etc.  (2)  Indoor  game  tournaments, 
such  as  bunco,  chess,  checkers,  dominoes,  pit,  '^I'm  a 
Millionaire,"  "39  and  27,''  "Who's  Who  in  Missions," 
etc.  (3)  Entertainments:  Fireside  joke  nights,  popular 
song  contests,  mock  trials,  guessing  contests,  hayseed 
carnivals,  popcorn  festivals,  post-card  showers,  etc. 

2.  TRAINING  FOR  SERVICE.— (1)  In  the  home— 
courtesy,  assuming  definite  responsibility,  helping  to  sup- 
port, etc.  (2)  In  the  church — active  participation  in  the 
work  of  the  Sunday  school,  young  people's  organizations, 
acting  as  ushers,  singing  in  choir,  teaching,  taking  train- 
ing courses,  etc.  (3)  In  the  community — visiting  shut-ins, 
tearing  bandages  for  visiting  nurses'  associations,  provid- 
ing story  hours  for  neglected  children,  collecting  magazines 
and  books  for  prisons,  hospitals,  homes  for  the  aged,  etc. 
(4)  In  the  world — training  in  stewardship,  the  gift  of  self, 
service  and  substance  for  the  needs  of  humanity. 

3.  GOOD  CITIZENSHIP  CAMPAIGNS.— Including  a 
knowledge  of  community  forms  of  government,  taking  part 
in  community  campaigns  for  social  betterment,  surveys, 
fly  campaigns,  etc.^ 

4.  VOCATIONAL  CHOICES.— Including  the  subordi- 
nation of  material  gain  for  the  good  of  the  community  and 
the  world. 


^  Canadiam  Girls  in  Training   (p.  16). 
122 


A    FOURFOLD    PROGRAM 


Religious  Programs. 

The  term  "religious"  is  used  here  in  the  sense 
of  personal  relationship  on  the  part  of  young 
people  to  God.  In  a  certain  sense,  religion  may 
not  be  considered  apart  from  the  physical,  intel- 
lectual and  social  development,  for  all  true  religion 
expresses  itself  through  physical,  intellectual  and 
social  avenues.  Every  leader  of  young  people, 
however,  knows  that  there  are  certain  definite 
means  by  which  he  or  she  may  help  young  people 
to  grow  spiritually — to  find  God  through  prayer, 
Bible  study,  mission  study,  worship,  self-denial 
and  service.  The  adolescent  years  are  the  years 
when  the  altruistic  and  religious  instincts  are  at 
floodtide.  Never  again  will  life  be  as  passionately 
idealistic,  altruistic,  as  keenly  alive  to  the  call  of 
the  spirit.  The  Sunday  and  through-the-week  pro- 
grams of  organized  classes  should  provide  oppor- 
tunity for  the  constant  expression  of  these  higher 
instincts  and  impulses.  Religious  programs  for 
young  people  should  include: 

1.  DAILY  DEVOTIONS.— The  habit  of  daily  Bible 
reading  and  prayer,  including  the  "Quiet  Hour'*  or 
' '  Morning  Watch. ' ' 

2.  PUBLIC  WORSHIP.— Including  regular  attendance 
at  the  services  of  the  church. 

3.  BIBLE  STUDY.— In  the  church's  school  and  mid- 
week Bible-study  groups. 

4.  STEWARDSHIP.— Including  the  gift  of  one's  self 
to  Christ,  one's  time  in  His  service,  one's  substance  to  the 
work  of  His  Kingdom. 

9  123 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

5.  SELF-DENIAL.— Tlie  cultivation  of  self-control  and 
temperance  in  all  things,  food,  clothes,  pleasures,  work,  etc. 

6.  MISSIONS  AND  CHURCH  HISTORY.— A  study  of 
the  growth  and  development  of  the  church  through  the 
ages,  and  of  missions  and  social  service. 

The  programs  and  materials  ontlined.  in  the 
'^ American  Standard  Program  for  Boys'"  and  in 
*' Canadian  Girls  in  Training"^  are  both  of  value 
to  teachers  and  leaders  of  young  people.  These 
booklets  contain  suggested  plans,  programs  and 
materials  for  through-the-week  meetings  of  Sun- 
day-school classes,  clubs,  etc.  The  ' '  American 
Standard  Program  for  Boys"  suggests  both  a  plan 
and  a  program  for  charting  the  fourfold  develop- 
ment of  teen-age  boys,  which  may  be  modified  and 
changed  to  suit  local  needs  and  conditions. 

There  are  those,  of  course,  who  look  with  dis- 
favor upon  any  plan  or  program  that  attempts  to 
measure  fourfold  growth  and  development  in  a 
mechanical  way.  The  author,  however,  has  found 
both  the  ''American  Standard  Program  for  Boys" 
and  ''Canadian  Girls  in  Training"  of  value  in 
helping  teen-age  boys  and  girls  to  discover  that 
they  lack  some  very  desirable  things;  to  make  them 
want  these  desirable  things  enough  to  struggle  for 
them ;  and  to  plan  the  through- the  week  programs 
of  organized  classes  in  such  a  way  as  to  help  young 
people  to  secure  the  desired  development. 


^Association  Press,    124  E.   Twenty -eighth  St.,   New   York   City. 
2  Canadian   National   Advisory   Oormnittee,   504    Wesley   Bldg.,   To- 
ronto, Ontario,  Canada. 

124 


VII 

GRADED  WORSHIP 

THERE  was  a  time  when  the  teaching  of  the 
Bible  was  regarded  as  the  chief,  and  in  many 
churches  the  only,  task  of  the  Sunday  school.  In 
those  not  very  distant  years,  there  was  in  the  aver- 
age Sunday  school  a  fifteen  or  twenty  minute 
period  of  "opening  exercises"  (for  the  purpose, 
usually,  of  allowing  late-comers  to  get  there  before 
the  lesson  for  the  day  began),  a  twenty  or  thirty 
minute  lesson  period,  and  a  ten  or  fifteen  minute 
closing  service.  The  opening  exercises  consisted  of 
one  or  two  songs,  a  prayer  (usually  longer  than  it 
was  intelligent),  ;the  reading  of  the  lesson  for  the 
day,  another  song,  and  then  the  announcement, 
"Classes  will  now  pass  to  their  places."  The  clos- 
ing service  was  even  less  interesting,  and,  as  a  rule, 
less  vital.  It  consisted  of  a  song,  the  secretary's 
report,  a  five  or  ten  minute  lesson  review  conducted 
by  a  poorly  prepared  superintendent  (who  usually 
succeeded  in  undoing  the  work  of  every  conscien- 
tious teacher  in  the  school),  another  song,  the  an- 
nouncements and  benediction.  But  the  day  for 
that  sort  of  a  program  has  passed  in  the  life  of 

125 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

every  Sunday  school  making  even  a  pretension  at 
the  task  of  religious  education. 

With  the  coming  of  graded  lessons  for  the 
church's  school,  there  has  come  also  a  knowledge 
that  God's  child  is  a  graded  child,  and  that  all  the 
elements  that  enter  into  the  j^eligious  education  of 
childhood  and  youth  must  of  necessity  be  graded 
and  adapted  to  meet  the  needs  of  developing  life. 
Naturally,  the  emphasis  at  first  was  upon  curricu- 
lum, organization  and  equipment;  but  educators 
to-day  are  saying  that  there  must  be  not  only  a 
grading  of  the  instruction,  the  organization  and 
the  equipment,  but  graded  programs  of  worship 
and  expression  as  well.  With  this  new  emphasis 
we  have  begun  to  put  the  opening  and  closing 
exercises  of  the  Sunday  school  under  microscopic 
observation,  and  we  are  finding  that  most  of  the 
things  to  which  we  gave  a  great  deal  of  time  in  the 
past  might  well  be  eliminated  entirely  from  the 
educational  program  of  the  church's  school.  We 
are  beginning,  now,  to  ask  a  question  that  we 
might  with  profit  have  asked  years  ago :  ' '  What  is 
the  purpose  of  worship  in  connection  with  the 
Sunday  school?"  And  in  the  answer  to  that  ques- 
tion we  are  finding  the  opportunity  to  make  one 
of  the  finest  contributions  to  Christian  education 
that  the  church's  school  has  yet  made. 

WorsJiip  is  tJie  cry  of  tJie  Jiuman  soul  for  com- 
panionsJiip  witJi  God.  It  grows  out  of  the  longing 
in  the  heart  of  man  for  the  fellowship  that  comes 

126 


GRADED    WORSHIP 


from  a  sense  of  being  in  harmony  with  the  will  of 
God  for  his  children.  It  expresses  itself  in  'he 
language  of  the  soul,  the  emotions^ — in  hymns  of 
praise,  of  consecration,  of  assurance ;  in  prayers 
of  adoration,  communion  and  entreaty;  in  Scrip- 
ture that  expresses  comfort,  consolation  and  bless- 
ing; in  stories  of  love,  of  care  and  of  brotherhood. 
For  while  worship  is  always  addressed  to  God,  it 
brings  out  at  the  same  time  the  individual  and 
social  aspects  of  Christianity,  because  the  Christian 
religion  is  essentially  a  social  religion.  Worship, 
therefore,  is  essential  in  the  character-making 
process  because  it  arises  out  of,  and  supplies,  cer- 
tain universal  needs. 

Educators  are  agreed  that  any  complete  pro- 
gram of  Christian  education  must  include  the  three 
factors — worsJiip,  instruction  and  expression.  Mr. 
Hartshorne,  in  his  splendid  chapter  on  "The  Pur- 
pose of  Worship  in  the  Sunday  School, ' '  ^  suggests 
that  the  purpose  of  worship  is  to  cultivate  the 
feelings.  It  deals  with  the  acquisition  of  new 
attitudes  of  appreciation  with  relation  to  God,  the 
Father,  and  Jesus  Christ,  his  Son.  The  purpose 
of  instruction  is  intellectual.  It  deals  with  the 
acquisition  of  new  ideas  and  ideals  concerning  the 
heavenlj^  Father,  his  Son,  and  their  plans  and  pur- 
poses for  humanity.  The  purpose  of  expression  is 
motor.  It  deals  with  the  acquisition  of  new  habits 
of   action   toward    God   the    Father,    Jesus    Christ, 


Worship  in  the  Svmday  School,  Chap.  IV. 
127 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

and  the  social  relationships  that  grow  out  of  their 
plans  and  purposes  for  the  sons  of  men. 

Inasmuch  as  the  needs  of  each  group  vary 
(human  life  unfolds  gradually  from  infancy  to 
maturity),  separate  departmental  assembly-rooms 
for  each  normal  group  in  the  church-school's  life 
are  essential  to  their  fullest  development. 
7^  The  aim  in  work  with  young  people  is  "that 
all  worship,  all  instruction  and  all  expression  shall 
issue  in  service  in  the  home,  church,  community 
and  world."  The  educational  purpose  of  graded 
worsJiip  in  the  Intermediate,  Senior  and  Young 
People's  departments  of  the  church's  school  is, 
therefore,  (1)  to  teach  boys  and  girls  to  wor- 
ship through  the  conscious  cultivation  of  feel- 
ings that  have  to  do  with  new  attitudes  of  appre- 
ciation;  (2)  to  provide  opportunity  for  expression 
through  participation  in  worship  programs  that 
are  graded  and  adapted  to  meet  their  needs;  and 
(3)  to  train  young  people  for  service  in  the  realm 
of  worship  by  making  it  possible  for  them  to  have 
part  in  planning  and  conducting  worship  pro- 
grams, accumulating  and  correlating  materials,  etc. 

In  order  to  make  adequate  provision  for  train- 
ing in  worship,  there  should  be  not  only  separate 
department  rooms,  but  a  certain  specified  time  (fif- 
teen or  twenty  minutes),  in  connection  with  either 
the  opening  or  closing  service  of  the  church's 
school,  in  which  these  normal  groups  may  have 
opportunity  for  worship   services  that  are  graded 

128 


GRADED   WORSHIP 


and  adapted  to  their  individTial  and  group  needs. 
Whether  or  not  that  time  precedes  or  follows  the 
lesson  period  is  not  so  material  as  that  it  shall  be 
sacred  to  the  purpose  for  which  it  is  intended,  and 
protected  from  everything  that  is  foreign  to  the 
spirit  of  worship.  It  is  quite  as  impossible  to  train 
young  people  to  worship  in  the  midst  of  banging 
doors,  ringing  bells,  announcements,  reports  and 
the  arrival  of  late-comers,  as  it  is  children.  Care- 
ful attention  should  be  given  to  the  matter  of  pro- 
tecting the  department  worship  program  against 
all  needless  interruptions  and  distractions. 

Then,  too,  it  is  quite  as  much  the  duty  of  the 
counselor  (superintendent)  in  the  Intermediate, 
Senior  and  Young  People's  departments  to  build 
worship  programs  as  it  is  for  teachers  to  build 
lessons;  and  quite  as  essential,  if  real  training  is 
to  be  afforded  through  the  worship  service.  Mr. 
Hartshorne  says:  '' Successful  training  in  worship 
depends  as  much  as  anything  on  having  a  complete 
and  accurate  record  of  what  is  done  in  these  wor- 
ship services.  Provision  for  this  can  easily  be 
made  in  a  loose-leaf  note-book  or  in  some  other 
convenient  way.  If  an  original  story  is  used,  it 
should  be  given  complete  for  future  reference.  If 
other  stories  are  used,  they  should  be  referred  to 
carefully.  The  complete  order  of  service  from 
Sunday  to  Sunday  should  be  kept,  including  the 
names  of  hymns,  prayers,  psalms,  responses,  etc. ' ' ' 


Manual  for  Training  in  Worship    (p.  11) 
129 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

Then,  too,  teachers  and  department  officers  must 
co-operate  intelligently  if  the  worship  service  is  to 
mean  the  most  in  training  the  devotional  life  of 
young  people.  The  attitude  of  indifference,  or  the 
habit  of  visiting,  on  the  part  of  teachers  in  a 
department,  makes  it  impossible  for  pupils  to  par- 
ticipate in  either  the  act  or  attitude  of  worship. 
The  whole  group — officers,  teachers  and  pupils — 
must  be  ''with  one  accord  in  one  place"  before  it 
will  be  possible  for  any  to  be  ''in  the  Spirit  on 
the  Lord's  day." 

Usually  it  is  wise  to  have  a  devotional  or  pro- 
gram committee  for  the  department,  composed  of 
representative  young  people.  This  committee,  work- 
ing with  the  department  counselor,  should  build 
the  programs  from  week  to  week;  and  better  re- 
sults will  be  obtained  if  the  themes  of  worship  are 
blocked  out  for  a  month  or  six  weeks  in  advance. 
The  young  people  should  be  used  both  in  planning 
and  in  executing  these  programs,  which  must 
always  be  comprehensive  enough  and  interesting 
enough  to  challenge  their  powers  and  enlist  their 
co-operation. 

Worship  services  should  be  builded  around 
themes  that  have  a  more  or  less  universal  appeal, 
such  as  faith,  hope,  love,  loyalty,  gratitude,  rever- 
ence, service,  brotherhood,  etc. ;  and  all  the  elements 
in  the  program  (hymns,  prayers.  Biblical  passages, 
stories  and  talks)  should  be  so  correlated  with  the 
central    theme    as    to    fit    naturally    and    normally 

130 


GRADED    WORSHIP 


there.  All  assignments  with  reference  to  the  pro- 
grams, either  individual  or  group,  should  be  clear 
and  definite;  and  plans  for  rehearsals  of  special 
songs.  Scripture  responses,  stories,  etc.,  should  be 
arranged  for. 

Parts  of  the  Program. 

MUSIC  for  adolescents  should  be  of  the  very- 
best,  because  it  is  during  the  adolescent  years  that 
it  has  its  greatest  natural  appeal.  Charles  Kingsley 
says:  ''There  is  something  very  wonderful  in 
music.  Words  are  wonderful  enough,  but  music  is 
more  wonderful.  It  speaks  not  to  our  thoughts  as 
words  do;  it  speaks  straight  to  our  hearts  and 
spirits,  to  the  very  core  and  root  of  our  souls. 
Music  soothes  us,  stirs  us  up ;  it  puts  noble  feelings 
into  us;  it  melts  us  to  tears,  we  know  not  how.  It 
is  a  language  by  itself,  just  as  perfect  in  its  way  as 
speech,  as  words;  just  as  divine,  just  as  blessed." 
Music  is  one  of  the  mightiest  factors  in  human  life 
in  its  influence  on  ideas,  moods  and  ideals.  G. 
Stanley  Hall  says:  ''For  the  average  youth  there 
is  probably  no  other  such  an  agent  for  educating 
the  heart  to  love  God,  home,  country,  and  for 
cadencing  the  whole  emotional  nature,  as  music/' 
Hence  the  need  of  cultivating,  during  the  adolescent 
years,  an  appreciation  for  the  finest  in  music  as 
well  as  in  art  and  literature. 

Three  types  of  hymns  appeal  especially  during 
these  years:    (1)    Those  that   express   the  idea   of 

131 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

individual  religious  experience — '^  Nearer,  My  God, 
to  Thee,"  '^0  Love  that  Will  Not  Let  Me  Go," 
etc.  (2)  Those  that  express  the  idaa  of  social 
goodness  or  the  goodness  of  the  group.  Under  this 
head  come  nearly  all  the  martial  hymns  of  the 
church— ''Faith  of  Our  Fathers,"  ''Onward,  Chris- 
tian Soldiers,"  etc.  (3)  Those  that  express  the 
idea  of  world  salvation — "Jesus  Shall  Reign," 
"Where  Cross  the  Crowded  Ways  of  Life,"  etc. 
The  words  and  music  ought  always  to  tell  the  same 
story;  and  both  should  be  selected  with  the  needs 
and  interests  of  adolescents  in  mind. 

SCRIPTURE:  Rauschenbusch  says:  "Only  that 
much  of  the  Bible  is  yours  that  has  become  so 
through  experience."  In  selecting  passages  of 
Scripture  for  devotional  use  in  connection  with 
worship  programs,  this  fact  should  be  borne  in 
mind;  and  Biblical  passages  that  are  far  beyond 
a  possible  life  experience  or  situation  for  young 
people  omitted.  The  Bible  is  full  of  passages  the 
content  of  which  has  already  been  experienced  by 
young  people.  Teachers  and  department  counselor 
will  be  helped  by  a  study  of  the  Psalms,  the  mes- 
sages of  the  Prophets,  the  Gospels  and  Epistles 
from  the  viewpoint  of  their  relation  to  the  life 
experiences  and  situations  of  young  people.  The 
memory  Scriptures  suggested  in  connection  with 
the  Intermediate  and  Senior  graded  lessons  can  be 
used  in  a  splendid  way  in  responsive  work  in  the 
department  program. 

132 


GRADED    WORSHIP 


PRAYERS  that  are  made  for  and  by  adoles- 
cents should  be  for  specific  things  and  persons.  A 
study  of  your  conmiunity  and  of  the  missions  and 
missionaries,  both  denominational  and  interdenomi- 
national, locating  each  missionary  in  his  field  and 
becoming  familiar  with  the  type  of  work  done,  will 
make  it  possible  for  the  department  leadership  to 
help  young  people  to  pray  intelligently  and  spe- 
cifically for  the  needs  of  the  community  and  the 
world.  The  suggesting  of  themes  of  intercession 
will  also  make  for  definite  and  specific  prayer. 

STORIES  AND  TALKS:  Do  not  belittle  the 
place  of  feelings  in  these  older  years.  Short  stories 
and  inspirational  talks,  intelligently  given,  may  be 
used  to  nourish  the  emotions  in  a  natural  and  legiti- 
mate way.  Stories  of  victory,  of  achievement,  of 
sacrifice,  of  service,  stir  the  hearts  of  yuung  people 
and  give  motive  for  decisions  that  often  change  the 
whole  current  of  a  life.  The  missionary  publica- 
tions of  your  own  and  other  communions — Every- 
land  Magazine,  the  World  Call,  the  Outlook — these 
and  other  sources  will  provide  the  necessary  material 
for  these  short  talks  and  stories.  Most  of  the  mis- 
sionary boards  are  now  publishing  regularly  book- 
lets or  magazines  that  contain  material  that  has  been 
prepared  for  just  such  use  as  this. 

Planning  Worship  Services. 

In  selecting  themes  of  worship  it  is  better,   as 
a  rule,  to  make  them  more  or  less  seasonal  in  their 

133 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

appeal.  For  illustration,  ''Faith"  is  a  splendid 
theme  for  October.  At  least  four  worth-while  pro- 
grams might  be  builded  around  such  a  theme: 

1.  What  Faith  Is. 

2.  How  One  Gets  Faith. 

3.  What  Faith  Does  for  One. 

4.  What  Faith  Makes  One  Do  for  Others. 

The  story  of  Abraham  indicates  in  a  splendid 
way  what  ''faith"  is.  The  conversation  between 
Philip  and  the  Ethiopian  eunuch  depicts  in  a  dra- 
matic way  how  one  gets  faith.  The  story  of  Paul 
shows  what  faith  does  to  human  life;  and  the  story 
of  Livingstone,  what  faith  makes  one  do  for  others. 

The  theme  "Gratitude"  fits  naturally  the 
month  of  November,  leading  up  to  Thanksgiving 
Day.  "Love"  is  ideal  as  a  theme  for  December, 
with  its  climax  at  Christmas  in  the  gift  of  God's 
own  Son  to  the  world.  "Service"  follows  natu- 
rally the  outpouring  of  love,  and  might  be  used 
early  in  the  new  year.  Other  topics  will  suggest 
themselves  as  special  needs  or  occasions  occur. 

The  following  sources  of  material  will  be  found 
helpful  in  planning  worship  programs  for  adoles- 
cents: 

''Manual  for  Training  in  Worship'' — Hartshome. 

"The  Book  of  Worship  in  the  Church  School ' '—Harts- 
home. 

''Worship  and  Song" — Winchester  and  Conant. 

"Songs  of  Service" — ^Alexander- Waite-Marcum  and 
Danforth. 

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GRADED    WORSHIP 


''Hymns  and  Sacred  Songs" — O.  E.  Excell. 
''Famous  Hymns  of  the  World  "—Sutherland. 
"The  Story  of  the  Hymns   and  Tunes "—Butterworth 
and  Brown. 

The  last  two  books  contain  the  stories  of  twen- 
ty-eight or  thirty  of  the  great  hymns  of  the 
church,  and  may  be  used  for  reference  in  making 
assignments  of  this  nature. 

Suggestive  Programs 
(For  General  and  Special  Occasions.) 

Time  required  for  the  following  services,  twenty 
minutes.  The  program  to  precede  the  class  period, 
preferred.  The  programs  which  follow  are  merely 
suggestive.  Each  department  superintendent 
(counselor)  should  prepare,  with  the  aid  of  the 
Program  or  Devotional  Committee  of  the  depart- 
ment, the  worship  service  from  week  to  week.  The 
order  given  in  the  following  services  may  serve  as  a 
guide  in  building  programs,  and  the  materials  sug- 
gested are  typical  of  the  elements  that  should  enter 
into  worship  programs  for  Intermediates,  Seniors 
and  Young  People. 

GENERAL   PROGRAM. 

Organ  or  Piano  Prelude  (quiet  music  as  a  signal  for 
pupils  to  take  their  places  for  the  morning  worship). 

Opening  Hymn— "Safely  Through  Another  Week." 
(At  the  sound  of  a  chord  from  the  instrument,  all 
rise  and  remain  standing  through  the  hymn  and 
prayer  that  follows.) 

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YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

Silent  Prayer  (at  the  close  of  wliicli  all  may  unite  in 
repeating:  "The  Lord  knoweth  them  that  are  his; 
and  let  every  one  that  nameth  the  name  of  the  Lord 
depart  from  unrighteousness," — 2  Tim.  2:  19). 

Eesponsive  Memory  Scripture — The  nineteenth  Psalm 
(given  responsively  by  the  two  first-year  Intermedi- 
ate classes.  Let  the  whole  department  join  in  the 
closing   verse). 

Hymn — ''Just  as  I  Am''  (the  new  words  to  the  old 
tune  '  *  Woo  d worth ' ' ) . 

"Just  as  I  am,  Thine  own  to  be, 
Friend  of  the  young,  who  lovest  me; 
To    consecrate    myself   to   Thee, 

0  Saviour  dear,    I   come   to "  Thee» 

"In  the  glad   morning  of  my  youth 
My  life  to  give,  my  vows  to  pay; 
With   no   reserve    and   no    delay, 
With   all  my  heart,   I  come,  I   come. 

"I  would  live  ever  in  the  light, 

1  would   work   ever  for   the   right, 

I    would    serve   Thee   with    all    my   might, 
Therefore  to  Thee   I   come,   I   come. 

"Just  as   I    am,   young,    strong   and   free, 
To  be   the   best  that  I    can   be. 
For   truth   and   righteousness   and   Thee, 
Lord   of  my  life,   I   come,   I   come." 

Announcements  (such  as  are  necessary.  By  the  presi- 
dent or  department  counselor). 

Birthday  Greetings — Have  pupils  who  have  had  a 
birthday  during  the  week  stand,  while  the  secretary 
passes  the  birthday  box  or  basket  to  them.  Then, 
while  they  are  standing,  let  the  department  greet 
them  by  repeating: 

"Many  happy  returns   of  the  day  of  thy  birth, 
May   sunshine   and    gladness   be   given; 
And  may  the  dear  Father  prepare  thee,  on  earth, 
For  a  beautiful  birthday  in   heaven." 

Story  (if  missionary,  told  by  the  chairman  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Committee  of  the   department  or  of  one  of 
the   classes.      Vary    this   item    from    week    to    week. 
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GRADED    WORSHIP 


Sometimes  a  Bible  character,  a  travelogue,  or  current 

events  that  have  a  religious  significance). 
Hymn   (in  keeping  with  the  spirit  of  the  above  item. 

If  missionary,  then  a  missionary  hymn,  etc.). 
Prayer   (for  the  consecration  of  selves,  by  one  of  the 

department  teachers  or  pupils). 
Martial     Music     ("Onward,     Christian     Soldiers,"     as 

classes  move  to  their  classrooms  or  places). 

SPECIAL    PROGRAMS. 

No.  I.     THEME:  ''How  God  Speaks  to  Us." 

Organ  Prelude  (quiet  music). 

Call  to  Worship  (in  unison) — "Oh  worship  the  Lord  in 
the  beauty  of  holiness.  Enter  into  his  gates  with 
thanksgiving,  and  into  his  courts  with  praise." 

Hymn — "O  Worship  the  King"    (vs.   1  and  3). 

Invocation — * '  The  Lord 's  Prayer. ' ' 

Scripture  Lesson — "How  God  Speaks  to  Us"  (Isa. 
6:  1-8). 

Hymn — "Holy,  Holy,  Holy"  (vs.  1  and  2,  preceded  by 
the  story  of  Reginald  Heber  and  how  he  came  to 
write  this  great  hymn). 
Period  of  Intercession  (topics  suggested  by  the  leader. 
See  ' '  Manual  for  Training  in  Worship, ' '  ^  pp.  79 
and   80,  for  suggested   topics   of   intercession). 

Duet — "In  the  Garden"   (Intermediate  girls). 

Announcements,  birthday  greeting  and  offering. 

Story — "Two  Thousand  Miles  for  a  Book"^  with  the 
following    introduction:    "And    now    and    then    God 

speaks  to  us  through  the  voice  of  a  people.     

[pupil's    name]    will    tell    us    how    He    spoke    to    us 
through  the  voice  of  the  Nez  Perce  Indians"). 


^  Hartshorne. 

^Heralds  of  the   Cross  Among  Early  Americams,  Maus    (pp.   5-8). 
10  137 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

Prayer    of    Consecration    (by    one    of    the    department 

teachers). 
Hymn— "Jesus  Calls  Us"  (vs.  1,  2  and  4). 
Processional    (as  classes  pass  to  classrooms  or  places). 

No.  II.     THEME:   ^'Loyalty"    (to  be  conducted 

by  boys). 

Organ  Prelude — "March  and  Chorus''  (Tannhauser). 
Call  to  Worship  (in  unison) — 

"God  is  our  refuge   and  strength, 
A  very  present  help  in  trouble"    (Ps.  46:  1). 

Hymn— "Faith  of  Our  Fathers." 

Prayer  (see  p.  147,  Chap.  VIII.,  of  the  "Manual  for 
Training  in  Worship" — Hartshome). 

Scripture — Eph.  6:  10-19.  (Precede  the  Scripture  by 
having  a  soldier  in  full  uniform  explain  the  mean- 
ing and  use  of  his  equipment  in  the  service  of  the 
national  army.  At  the  conclusion  of  his  talk  unfurl 
the  American  flag,  and,  with  the  group  standing, 
sing  one  verse  of  "The  Star-Spangled  Banner." 
Then  have  some  older  boy  in  the  department  stand 
by  the  national  soldier  and  read,  from  memory  if 
possible,  the  Scripture  reference  given  above,  thus 
showing  the  necessary  equipment  of  the  Christian 
soldier.  At  the  conclusion,  unfurl  the  Christian  flag, 
and  sing,  "The  Son  of  God  Goes  Forth  to  War.") 

Period  of  Intercession — For  "Our  Soldiers,"  "Our 
Country,"  "The  Church,"  "The  World." 

Hymn — "America,"  using  as  the  last  verse: 

"God  save  our  splendid  men, 
Bring  them  safe  home  again ; 

God  save  our  men. 
Keep  them  victorious, 
Patient  and  chivalrous — 
They  are- so  dear  to  us. 

God  save  our  men." 

Processional   (as  classes  pass  to  their  places). 
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GRADED    WORSHIP 


No.   III.     THEME:   ^'Service"    (to  be  conducted 
by  girls). 

Organ  Prelude — ' '  Traumerei ' '    ( Schumann) . 
Call  to  Worship  (in  unison)  — 

"Not   unto   us,    O   Jehovah,   not   unto   us, 
But   unto    thy    name   give    glory, 
For  thy  lovingkindness,  and  for  thy  truth's  sake." 

(Ps.   115:  1.) 

Short  Sketch  of  the  Life  of  Fanny  Crosby  (with  the 
announcement  that  the  songs  of  the  service  are 
selected  from  her  writings). 

Hymn—' '  Holy,-  Holy,  Holy  Is  the  Lord. ' ' 

Prayer,  followed  by  the  choir  response  (softly),  "The 
Lord 's  Prayer, "  by  T.  Koschat. 

Scripture— Matt.  28:  1-8. 

Missionary  Instruction — 

1.  Story  (some  phase  of  woman's  work). 

2.  Prayer    (naming  the  missionary  or  missionaries). 

3.  Song — ''Face  to  Face  with  Christ  My  Saviour." 
Processional  to  classes. 

(If  this  service  is  used  in  connection  with  a  "Women's 
and  Girls'  Day  Program,"  and  the  girls  are  to  have  part 
in  the  church  service  following,  the  items  given  below  are 
suggested  for  further  participation  on  the  part  of  girls.) 

Short  Talks— 

1.  "Representative  Women  of  the  Bible"  (material 
to  be  taken  from  the  book  of  that  name  by  George 
Matheson). 

2.  "Representative  Women  of  To-day"  (using  names 
and  incidents  in  regard  to  women  who  are  doing 
various  types  of  missionary,  benevolent  and  so- 
cial-service work.  See  "Heroines  of  Service,"  by 
Parkman,  for  stories  of  representative  women  of 
to-day.) 

3.  Special  Music  ("O  Love  that  Will  Not  Let  Me 
Go,"  by  the  blind  preacher,  George  Matheson,  can 

139 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

be  used  effctively  as  a  solo  or  duet  between  the 
talks.  It  would  be  fitting  to  mention  the  fact 
that  he  is  the  author  both  of  the  song  and  the 
book,  ''Eepresentative  Women  of  the  Bible," 
from  which  the  Bible  story  or  stories  were  taken). 

No.  IV.    THEME:  ''The  Message  of  Music." 

Organ  Prelude. 
Call  to  Worship — 

"Oh  come,  let  us  sing  unto  Jehovah; 
Let  us  make  a  joyful  noise  to  the  rock  of  our  salvation." 

(Ps.   95:  1.) 

Hymn — ''O  Worship  the  King." 

Short  Talk  on  "The  Message  of  Music"  (material  may 
be  found  in  the  "Manual  for  Training  in  Worship," 
by  Hartshorne,  p.  45;  "Music,"  p.  80;  "Music  and 
Prayer,"  p.  81;  Introduction  to  Handel's  "Largo," 
followed  by  "Largo,"  as  a  piano  or  organ  solo). 

Instrumental  Music — "Largo"    (Handel). 

Short  Sketch  of  the  Life  of  Martin  Luther  as  a  Hymn- 
writer,  introducing  the 

Hymn — "A  Mighty  Fortress  Is  Our  God"  (material 
found  in  "Famous  Hymns  of  the  World,"  by 
Sutherland,  pp.  159-178). 

Birthday  Greeting  and  Announcements. 

Inspirational  "Life-work"  Talk  (challenging  young 
people  to  the  dedication  of  musical  talent  to  the 
work  of  the  Kingdom). 

Prayer  of  Consecration  (by  the  department  counselor, 
or  one  of  the  teachers,  followed  by  the  singing 
of  a  hymn). 

Hymn— "Faith  of  Our  Fathers." 

Processional  to  Classes. 

(Note. — If  the  time  does  not  permit  of  so  long  a  ser- 
vice, eliminate  the  first  song  rather  than  omit  any  verses 
from  "A  Mighty  Fortress  Is  Our  God.") 

140 


GRADED   WORSHIP 


No.  V.     A  Special  ''Thanksgiving  Day"  Service. 
THEME:  ''A  Joyous  Life  Gives  Thanks." 

Organ  Prelude. 
Call  to  Worship — 

"O  go  your  way  into  his  gates  with  thanksgiving, 
And  into  his  courts  with  praise. 

Be  thankful  unto  him.  and  speak  good  of  his  name. 
For  the  Lord  is  good ;  his  kindness  endureth  for  ever, 
And  his  faithfulness  unto   all  generations." 

Hymn — "Zion  the  Marvelous  Story  is  Telling." 
Prayer  of  Thanksgiving  (No.  5,  p.  148,  of  the  "Manual 

for  Training  in  Worship, '^  by  Hartshorne). 
Scripture  Reading  (responsive) — Luke  2:  8-14. 
Hymn — "All  Hail  the  Power  of  Jesus'  Name"   (tune: 

"Miles  Lane"). 
One-minute   Reasons   Why   Christians   Should   Be   Glad. 

Have  seven  young  people  in  the  department  each  give 

one  reason,  quoting  from  memory  the  following  Bible 

references: 

1.  Rest  assured — Matt.  11:  28. 

2.  Absence  of  fear — John  14:  1. 

3.  A  Bearer  of  burdens — Ps.  55:  22. 

4.  Co-operation   in   service — John    13:  12-15. 

5.  A  Friend  and  Counselor — John  13:  33-35. 

6.  Saves  from  sins— Matt.  1:  21;  Mark  2:  15-17. 

7.  Assures  the  future — John  14:  2,  3. 

Song— " Welcome,    Day    of    Gladness"    (p.    128,    "The 

Book  of  Worship,"  by  Hartshorne). 
Five-minute  Talk — On  "The  Joy  of  Service"   (by  the 

department  counselor  or  pastor.     See  "The  Manhood 

of  the  Master,"  by  Fosdick,  and  "Quiet  Talks  on 

Service,"  by  Gordon,  for  materials). 
Prayer   (for  the  power  and  willingness   to  serve — by  a 

teacher). 
Hymn — "Hark!   the  Voice  of  Jesus  Calling." 
Processional  to  Classes. 

141 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

(Note. — If  the  whole  school  assembles  at  the  close  of 
the  teaching  period,  the  President's  annual  "Thanksgiving 
Day  Proclamation"  should  be  read,  followed  by  the  hymn, 
' '  Crown  Him  with  Many  Crowns, ' '  and  a  closing  prayer 
of  "national  thanksgiving"  for  the  blessings  America  has 
received  during  the  year.) 

No.  VI.    A  Special  Christmas  Day  Service. 
THEME:  ''The  Spirit  of  Christmas.'' 

Organ     Prelude — "Holy     Night,"     by     Gruber     (tune: 

"Stille  Nacht"). 
Call  to  Worship — 

"Oh  come,  let  us  worship  and  bow  down; 
Let  us  kneel  before  the  Lord  our  Maker: 
For  he  is  our  God, 

And  we  are  the  people  of  his  pasture, 
And  the  sheep  of  his  handv" 

Hymn — "It  Came  upon  a  Midnight  Clear." 

Prayer   (for  the  spirit  of  love). 

Scripture  Beading — Luke  2:  1-20  (from  memory  if 
possible). 

Hymn — "While  Shepherds  Watched  Their  Flocks" 
(Handel). 

Announcements. 

Story — "The  First  Christmas  Tree"  (by  Eugene  Field, 
from  "A  Little  Book  of  Profitable  Tales,"  or  "The 
Spirit  of  Christmas,"  by  Evelyn  Norton). 

Prayer  (that  the  spirit  of  Christmas  may  be  ours — by 
the  department  counselor  or  the  general  superintend- 
ent). 

Hymn— "Tell  the  News  to  All  the"  Nations"  (Whitley). 

Special  Self-denial  Offering  (for  some  definite  work  for 
others  that  will  show  in  some  measure  the  depart- 
ment's "white  gift"  to  the  King). 

Prayer  of  thanksgiving  for  the  heavenly  Father's 
White  Gift  to  humanity. 

Processional  to  Classes. 

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GRADED    WORSHIP 


No.  VII.    A  Special  Easter  Service. 
THEME:  ''Joy  to  the  World." 

Organ  Prelude — *' Messiah"   (Handel). 
Call  to  Worship — 

"Praise  ye  the  Lord. 
Praise   the    Lord,   O   my  soul. 
While  I  live  will  I  praise  the  Lord: 

I  will  sing  praises  unto  my  God  while  I  have  any  being." 

(Ps.  146:  1,   2.) 

Hymn — "The   Day   of    Resurrection"    (tune:    ''Lanca- 
shire,"  p.    110    in   "Worship    and    Song,"   by   Win- 
chester and  Conant). 
Scripture  Reading— John  14:  1-10,  15,  27. 
The  Lord's  Prayer. 
Hymn — "Christ    the   Lord   is    Risen    To-day"    (p.    124, 

"The  Book  of  Worship" — Hartshorne). 
Announcements  and  Birthday  Greetings. 
Story— "Jesus,    the    Explorer,"   or   "Peter"    (pp.    104 
and  105  and  110-112  of  "The  Manual  for  Training 
in  Worship,"  Hartshorne). 
Solo — "You  Ask  Me  How  I  Gave  My  Heart  to  Christ" 

(Cora  Willis  Ware — sheet  music). 
Leader's  Prayer. 

Hymn — "O  Jesus,  Thou  Art  Standing." 
Processional  to  Classes. 

(Note. — If  the  school  reassembles  following  the  class 
period,  it  is  well  to  have  the  pastor  make  a  special  Decision 
Day  appeal  to  young  people  to  give  themselves  to  Christ 
in  service.  Follow  the  appeal  by  some  such  hymn  as  ' '  Jesus 
Calls  Us,"  giving  young  people  an  opportunity  to  accept 
Christ  as  a  personal  Saviour.) 


143 


VIII 

GRADED  INSTRUCTION 

EDUCATION,  as  defined  by  President  Butler,  of 
Columbia  University,  means  a  gradual  adjust- 
ment to  the  spiritual  possessions  of  the  race.  Those 
possessions  may  be  variously  classified,  but  they 
certainly  are  at  least  fivefold.  The  child  is  entitled 
to  his  scientific  inheritance,  to  his  literary  inherit- 
ance, to  his  aesthetic  inheritance,  to  his  institutional 
inheritance  and  to  his  religious  inheritance.  With- 
out them  he  can  not  become  a  truly  educated  or 
cultivated  man.' 

Our  public-school  system  as  at  present  organ- 
ized, from  the  kindergarten  through  college,  makes 
it  possible  for  the  pupil  to  come  into  gradual  pos- 
session of  four-fifths  of  this  fivefold  inheritance. 
The  task  of  the  church's  school  is  to  put  the  pupil 
into  possession  of  his  religious  inheritance,  mthout 
which  he  must  be  forever  hopelessly  crippled  and 
incomplete.  For  education  which  fails  to  provide 
for  that  part  of  human  life  which  is  noblest  and 
highest,  which  refuses  to  recognize  the  universal 
aspiration  and  longing  of  humanity  after  goodness 


^  The  Meaning  of  Education    (p.   17). 
144 


GRADED    INSTRUCTION 


and  beauty,  after  truth,  perfection  and  God,  can 
never  be  regarded  as  complete  education  for  man- 
kind. Religious  education  is  essential  not  only 
because  it  makes  it  possible  for  us  to  come  into 
our  spiritual  inheritance;  but  because  it  develops 
in  us  that  passion  for  service  which  is  so  necessary 
to  a  complete  life  incarnating  the  Spirit  of  God. 

The  work  of  religious  education  can  not  be 
undertaken  by  the  public  schools,  for  it  has  been 
decided  by  the  highest  courts  in  several  States  that 
the  present  laws  of  our  land  do  not  admit  of  such 
instruction  being  given  there.  The  church,  through 
its  church  school,  organized  and  conducted  in 
accordance  with  sound  educational  principles, 
seems  to  be  the  natural  agency  by  which  the 
religious  inheritance  of  the  race  is  to  be  realized. 

The  accomplishment  of  so  important  a  task 
demands  not  only  a  fully  organized,  carefully 
graded  and  thoroughly  equipped  church  school, 
but  regular  courses  of  graded  instruction  selected 
from  the  viewpoint  of  the  life  needs  of  pupils  and 
employing  sound  pedagogical  methods  of  teaching. 
Such  instruction  for  young  people  (12-24  years) 
must  necessarily  include  Biblical,  extra-Biblical 
(missions,  church  histoiy,  temperance,  etc.)  and 
training  courses. 

Teachers  of  adolescents  will  find  in  the  Inter- 
national graded  lessons,  with  elective  courses  for 
young  people,  perhaps  the  best  available  graded- 
lesson  material.     These  lessons  are  selected  by  the 

145 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

International  Lesson  Committee  with,  the  life  needs 
of  pupils  in  mind.  They  are  permanent  (five  years 
hence  pupils  of  a  ^ven  age  \\dll  take  exactly  the 
same  lesson  that  pupils  of  that  age  are  taking 
now).  They  are  compreliensive  in  that  they  cover 
the  whole  field  of  Christian  education  (Biblical, 
missionary,  church  history,  temperance,  etc.)  ;  and 
they  are  Biblical  because  they  present  the  outside 
as  well  as  the  inside  of  the  Bible. 

But  the  fact  that  we  have  in  the  International 
graded  and  elective  lessons  the  finest  and  most 
complete  course  of  study  that  the  church's  school 
has  yet  had,  does  not  mean  that  teachers  are  to  be 
relieved  of  study,  or  that  they  do  not  need  to  know 
their  pupils,  lesson  material,  and  the  best  methods 
of  teaching.  It  is  true  that  graded  lessons  are 
easier  to  teach  than  uniform,  because  much  of  the 
work  that  must  be  done  by  teachers  in  getting 
ready  to  teach  uniform  lessons  has  already  been 
done  by  the  International  Lesson  Committee  in  the 
selection  of  material  adapted  to  the  needs  and 
capacities  of  pupils.  There  are,  however,  certain 
things  that  must  be  thought  through  by  every 
teacher  who  would  teach  successfully  any  lesson, 
whether  uniform  or  graded. 

First  of  all,  the  Bible  is  an  Oriental  book, 
written  in  the  long  ago,  and  using  phraseology 
that  is  often  a  barrier  to  young  people  who  think 
and  talk  in  the  language  of  to-day.  This  means 
that  teachers  must  know  not  only  the  Bible,  but 

146 


^{ 


FT 


f/f 


11 


PLAN  XL VII. — First  Floor* 
Frank  L.   Smith,  Architect,  Lexington,   Kentucky 
This  plan  makes   adequate  provision  for   schools  numbering  one 
thousand  or  more. 


*P.  El.  Burroughs,  Church  and  Stmday  School  Buildings  (p.  184). 


PLAN  XLVII. — Second  Floor* 
Frank  L.    Smith,   Architect,   Lexington,   Kentucky 

"P.  E.  Burroughs,  Church  and  Swnday  School  Buildings   (p.  135) 


GRADED    INSTRUCTION 


something  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  Oriental 
times  and  peoples;  and  that,  in  the  study  and 
preparation  of  lessons,  the  American  Revised, 
rather  than  the  King  James,  version  is  always  to 
be  preferred,  because  its  language  is  more  nearly 
the  vernacular  of  our  times.  In  teaching  New 
Testament  portions,  teachers  will  find  the  "Twenti- 
eth Century  New  Testament,"  and  ''The  New  Tes- 
tament in  Modem  Speech,"  by  Weymouth,  delight- 
fully illuminating. 

Then,  too,  the  Bible  deals  with  remote  periods 
of  time.  Boys  and  girls  are  living  intensely  in  the 
present.  If  you,  as  teacher,  fail  to  relate  this  Book 
of  life  to  the  present-day  needs  and  interests  of 
your  pupils,  it  can  not  become  "a,  lamp  unto  their 
feet  and  a  ligJit  unto  tJieir  patJiway/'  The  Bible 
is  largely  a  book  of  history  (the  history  of  people 
who  lived  in  the  long  ago).  If  you  teach  it  as  a 
cold  and  lifeless  thing,  with  a  few  facts  hung  here 
and  there  upon  date  pegs,  it  will  be,  perhaps  for- 
ever, a  closed  book,  uninteresting  to  boys  and  girls. 
But  if  you  make  it  a  biographical  study  of  living 
people,  facing  the  real  problems  of  life,  overcom- 
ing, and  sometimes  being  overcome,  or  a  discus- 
sional  study  of  great  principles  of  life,  you  can 
make  it  a  Book  to  live  by,  and  by  wMch  to  do 
one's  daily  work. 

The  Bible  is  not  of  vital  interest  to  the  average 
teen-age  boy  or  girl,  because  unaided  they  are  un- 
able to  discover  the  point  of  contact  between  its 

147 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

messages  and  the  problems  of  their  every-day  life. 
The  task  of  the  Sunday-school  teacher  is  to  find 
where  the  great  principles  of  life  expressed  in  the 
Book  of  books  touch  the  problems  of  young  people 
in  their  present-day  form..  This  means  that  teach- 
ers must  know  hoys  and  girls,  know  them  inti- 
mately enough  to  find  points  of  contact  between 
lesson  material  and  the  life  situations  and  experi- 
ences of  their  pupils.  Mere  acquaintance  with  boys 
and  girls,  a  general  knowledge  of  life  periods,  an 
occasional  contact  with  their  intimate  personal 
problems,  is  not  sufficient  to  enable  teachers  to 
intelligently  select  or  vitally  relate  lesson  truths  to 
the  needs  and  interests  of  individual  pupils. 

Teachers  must  not  only  be  able  to  find  points 
of  contact  between  the  Book  and  the  pupil;  but 
they,  themjselves,  must  be  intensely  interested  in, 
and  their  own  lives  passionately  aflame  with,  its 
burning  messages  for  all  times  and  all  lives. 
Eugene  C.  Foster  says:  "The  Bible  must  have  a 
tremendous  grip  upon  the  teacher  who  would  make 
it  grip  others.  If  it  is  a  colorless  book  to  him,  with 
a  lifeless  message ;  if  it  is  a  book  of  questions  to 
him,  with  a  doubtful  message;  if  it  is  a  closed  book 
to  him,  with  no  message  at  all — there  is  little  hope 
that  he  will  be  able  to  vitalize  it  in  the  lives  of 
others. '*'  Then,  too,  teachers  must  get  the  mes- 
sage and  the  pupil  together,  even  at  a  very  great 
cost  in  time  and  labor  on  their  part.     Inadequate 


^  Problems  of  Intermediate  and  Senior  Teachers    (p.   10). 
148 


GRADED   INSTRUCTION 


preparation,  the  mauling  over  of  a  few  lesson  com- 
ments, time-worn  illustrations,  shallow  or  far- 
fetched interpretations — these  have  no  freshness,  no 
vitality,  no  reality,  no  character-making  power  in 
the  lives  of  young  people.  Every  teacher's  library 
should  contain  a  few  well-chosen  books — a  good 
reference  Bible  (the  American  Revised  Version), 
an  atlas  or  a  set  of  maps,  a  Bible  dictionary,  some 
good  commentaries,  and  as  many  teachers'  helps 
and  periodicals  as  one  can  possibly  afford.  The 
bibliography  at  the  close  of  the  chapter  is  sug- 
gestive. 

In  the  development  of  lessons,  the  method  of 
presentation  must  vary  from  week  to  week.  Same- 
ness in  teaching,  the  lack  of  fi'eshness  and  variety, 
the  dullness  of  routine — all  these  things  tend  to 
Mil  vital  interest  in  a  teaching  period.  The  lecture 
method  should  be  used  sparingly,  if  at  all,  in  the 
Intermediate,  Senior  and  Young  People's  depart- 
ments, because  it  is  unco-operative.  The  teacher 
talks,  and  the  pupils  sit.  There  is  a  teacher,  but 
no  teaching.  There  are  pupils,  but  no  learning. 
Unless  there  is  that  in  the  lecture  that  awakens  an 
active  response  on  the  part  of  pupils,  it  fails  as  a 
teaching  method,  no  matter  how  well  the  teacher 
may  talk.  Real  teachers  will  strive  to  become 
leaders  of  discussional  groups,  rather  than  authori- 
tative dispensers  of  information. 

Finally,    the    teacher   must    afford    opportunity 
for    expression    in    connection    with    the    teaching 

149 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

process.  Lessons  presented  with  no  avenue  for 
expression,  truths  taught  with  no  application  to 
life  situations  and  experiences,  emotions  stirred 
with  no  outlet  in  action — these  things  defeat  en- 
tirely all  possibility  for  real  teaching. 

Lesson-building. 

Successful  teachers  have,  as  a  rule,  a  definite 
and  yet  modifiable  plan  of  building  lessons.  No 
one  method  of  teaching  will  fit  alike  all  pupils,  all 
materials  and  all  occasions;  but  this  does  not  indi- 
cate that  there  should  not  be  for  every  lesson  a 
clearly  defined  and  well- thought- through  plan  of 
development. 

The  first  step  in  the  process  of  lesson-building 
is  to  begin  the  preparation  of  the  lesson  by  fresJi 
study.  No  matter  how  many  times  you  may  have 
taught  that  lesson,  you  can  not  depend  upon 
warmed-over  impressions  from  other  years  to  make 
vital  any  lesson  in  the  lives  of  boys  and  girls. 
Begin  your  study  in  plenty  of  time — a  week  or  ten 
days  in  advance  of  the  time  you  are  to  teach  it. 
When  the  lesson  is  one  of  a  series,  it  is  well  to 
plan  the  development  of  the  series  as  a  unit,  which 
may  mean  that  the  general  plan  for  weeks  in 
advance  has  been  determined  upon. 

In  studying  Biblical  portions,  read  the  lesson 
material  in  your  own  Bible  first,  not  in  the  quar- 
terly or  handbook;  and  as  you  read,  picture  the 
story.     Suppose  you  are  to  teach  the  lesson,  "Jesus 

150 


GRADED    INSTRUCTION 


Betrayed,  Denied  and  Condemned" — it  comes  in 
the  International  Graded  Series  for  fifteen-year-old 
pupils.  Before  you  can  make  any  boy  or  girl  see 
Christ  as  he  stood  there  before  the  high  priest,  you 
must  see  Christ;  you  must  see  the  high  priest;  you 
must  see  His  accusers;  you  must  see  that  disciple 
in  the  outer  court,  who  had  said,  '' Though  all  men 
betray  thee,  yet  will  I  not."  With  the  aid  of  your 
imagination  you  must  see  all  these  so  clearly  that 
unconsciously,  without  knowing  it,  you  protrude 
the  scene  out  before  you  in  a  teaching  period,  so 
that  boys  and  girls  see,  not  you,  but  the  characters 
you  want  them  to  see.  This  may  mean,  it  often 
does  mean,  that  teachers  have  to  drop  their  Bible 
and  take  up  an  atlas  or  a  set  of  maps  and  look  up 
something  in  regard  to  the  geography  of  the  lesson. 
It  may  mean  that  you  will  have  to  read  up  on  the 
manners  and  customs  of  the  times;  but  wise  teach- 
ers never  leave  the  study  of  the  Biblical  portion 
itself,  with  whatever  reference  reading  they  may 
need  to  do,  until  the  whole  scene  passes  before  their 
inward  eyes  like  a  drama.  When  you  have  that 
kind  of  a  mental  picture  about  what  went  on  in 
that  lesson,  you  will  have  what  teachers  call  dra- 
matic atmosphere  in  teaching.  Do  you  want  to 
know  how  to  get  it?  Acquire  the  habit  of  reading 
portions  of  your  Bible  and  then,  closing  your  eyes, 
visualize  the  scene. 

Later  you  may  read  the  comments  and  sugges- 
tions given  in  the  "Teacher's  Quarterly"  and  the 
11  151 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

''Pupirs  Handbook."  Never  feel  compelled,  how- 
ever, to  use  the  method  of  development  suggested 
in  the  teacher's  and  pupil's  helps.  If  you  find  the 
method  suggested  there  an  armor  in  which  you  can 
fight,  put  it  on;  but  if  it  handicaps  you,  lay  it 
aside  and  build  your  own  lesson. 

The  next  step,  after  ycu  have  mastered  the  les- 
son material,  is  to  think  the  lesson  fhrougJi  from 
the  viewpoint  of  your  pupils.  Ask  yourself  the 
question.  What  is  there  in  this  lesson  material  that 
will  meet  the  life  needs  and  life  situations  of  my 
pupils?  With  the  needs  of  your  pupils  and  the 
lesson  material  in  mind,  select  the  central  thought, 
idea  or  truth  that  will  be  most  helpful  to  the  life 
problems  of  your  class.  As  a  rule,  there  will  be 
only  one  central  truth  around  which  the  focus  of 
emphasis  centers  for  each  lesson.  When  this  cen- 
tral thought  has  been  determined,  then  organize 
the  facts  of  the  lesson  around  the  central  truth. 
In  developing  the  material,  the  lesson  should  grow 
with  cumulative  interest  toward  this  central 
thought. 

The  next  step  in  the  process  of  lesson-building 
is  to  find  the  point  of  common  interest  between  the 
lesson  material  and  the  life  problems  of  your 
pupils.  Whether  you  call  this  point  of  common 
interest  your  *' point  of  contact"  or  your  ''atten- 
tion getter"  is  not  so  important  as  that  you  know 
what  you  are  going  to  u^e  (question,  story,  picture, 
map,    blackboard   sketch,    etc.)    and    how   you    are 

152 


GRADED    INSTRUCTION 


going  to  use  it  to  arrest  attention  and  to  approach 
and  relate  lesson  material  to  the  present-day  inter- 
ests and  situations  of  your  pupils.  But  there  are 
teachers  who  would  not  know  a  point  of  common 
interest  from  a  point  of  departure,  and  there  is  a 
vast  deal  of  difference  between  the  two.  You  can 
tell  any  kind  of  a  sensational  story  to  teen-age 
boys  and  girls  and  get  their  attention.  You  may 
make  it  wholly  impossible  to  do  the  kind  of  teach- 
ing you  want  to  do  that  day.  You  can  not  use 
just  anything  and  everything  as  a  point  of  con- 
tact. A  good  point  of  contact  usually  has  two 
characteristics:  (1)  It  must  be  in  line  with  the  life 
interests  of  pupils;  (2)  and  it  must  arouse  interest 
in  the  direction  of  the  lesson  material  to  be  used 
in  the  development  of  the  lesson  truth.  In  plan- 
ning the  approach  to  the  lesson  it  is  usually  best 
to  call  out  what  your  pupils  already  know  in  re- 
gard to  the  lesson,  and  not  to  contribute  it  your- 
self. It  is  also  well  to  recall  any  facts  that  have 
been  presented  in  preceding  lessons  that  are  re- 
lated to  the  new  material.  Assignments  that  have 
to  do  with  the  geographical  or  historical  back- 
ground may  often  be  used  in  a  splendid  way  in 
approaching  the  material  to  be  developed. 

The  next  step  that  must  be  thought  through  in 
advance  is  the  determining  of  the  method  to  be 
used  in  the  development  of  lesson  material.  If  the 
lesson  is  to  be  developed  in  the  form  of  an  elabo- 
rated  story   or  narrative,   with   reports   on   assign- 

153 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

ments  that  have  been  previously  made,  then  the 
way  in  which  assignments  are  to  be  called  out  and 
related  to  the  development  of  the  story  must  be 
planned  with  care. 

If  the  lesson  is  to  take  the  form  of  a  discussion, 
then  the  leading  thought  questions  which  are  to 
guide  the  discussion  should  be  written  out.  If  you 
are  planning  to  develop  the  lesson  in  the  form  of 
an  outline,  with  perhaps  an  occasional  assignment 
on  some  point  of  emphasis,  your  outline  will  need 
to  be  prepared  a  week  or  ten  days  in  advance,  so 
that  the  assignments  may  be  made  sufficiently  early 
to  make  it  possible  for  pupils  to  co-operate. 

If  the  lesson  is  to  take  the  form  of  a  recitation, 
the  steps  in  the  development  must  be  arranged  for 
and  topical  assignments  carefully  made  in  advance. 
Success  in  the  use  of  this  method  makes  it  neces- 
sary for  teachers  to  look  up  all  assignments  and  to 
be  prepared  to  contribute  any  that  are  lacking 
because  of  absence  or  unpreparedness  on  the  part 
of  pupils. 

Perhaps  you  are  planning  to  set  your  pupils 
to  a  first-hand  study  of  the  facts  of  human  experi- 
ence as  they  have  come  down  to  us  through  the 
ages,  and  then  to  let  them  draw  their  own  conclu- 
sions. If  so,  the  way  in  which  you  are  to  guide 
and  direct  the  experimentation  of  the  group  must 
be  worked  out  in  detail. 

Whatever  the  method  used,  the  plan  of  develop- 
ment must  be  clear  in  the  mind  of  the  teacher,  and 

154 


GRADED    INSTRUCTION 


usually  there  will  be  in  every  teaching  period  a 
high  point  of  interest  toward  which  the  lesson 
(discussional,  outline,  elaborated  story,  recitation, 
etc.)   grows  and  glows  with  cumulative  interest. 

The  next  step  in  the  process  of  lesson-building 
is  the  application.  You  have  taught  an  abstract 
truth,  or  the  message  of  the  life  of  some  great 
character  that  lived  centuries  ago.  Before  that 
abstract  truth,  or  the  message  of  the  life  of  that 
great  character,  can  have  any  real  value  in  our 
times,  it  must  be  brought  down  and  related  to 
present-day  conditions  and  problems.  If  you  fail 
to  do  this,  you  fail  to  make  vital  the  teaching 
process.  But  you  may  ask.  How  can  lessons  be 
vitalized  through  application  to  present-day  prob- 
lems? By  the  use  of  questions,  analogy  and  illus- 
trations. Show  how  the  missionaries  of  the  Cross 
in  modem  times  have  set  the  great  life-giving 
principles  of  the  word  of  God  at  work  in  their 
own  lives.  Now  and  then  ask  a  question  that  does 
not  require  an  oral  or  written  answer,  but  that 
does  require  an  answer  at  the  doors  of  the  con- 
science. Occasionally  use  Scripture  to  confirm  the 
common  human  experiences  of  our  every-day  life. 

Teachers  will  be  helped  wonderfully  in  the 
teaching  process  by  making  their  own  collection  of 
illustrations.  It  is  better,  as  a  rule,  to  make  the 
collection  in  a  loose-leaf  book  so  that  the  illustra- 
tions may  be  arranged  in  an  orderly  way  around 
lesson   material.      Glean    from    newspapers,    maga- 

155 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

zines,  missionary  publications,  reference  books, 
etc.,  prose,  poetry — anything  and  everything  that 
^vill  help  you  to  establish  continually  points  of 
common  interest  and  to  make  the  abstract  concrete 
through  a  generous  use  of  illustrative  material. 

The  last  step  in  the  process  of  lesson-building 
is  expression.  Inasmuch  as  no  lesson  is  ever  really 
taught  until  in  some  way  it  becomes  a  part  of 
human  experience,  set  your  pupils  at  work  from 
week  to  week,  testing  their  grip  on  the  truths  pre- 
sented. Plan  in  advance  the  ways  in  which  you 
are  going  to  set  lessons  at  work  in  the  life  of  boys 
and  girls,  rem.embering  that  no  one  ever  really 
knows  a  truth,  however  often  or  interestingly  he 
hears  it  presented,  until  in  some  way  he  expresses 
that  truth  himself.  The  following  chapter  will 
suggest  some  ways  in  which  lessons  may  find 
expression  in  life. 

Securing  Home  Study. 

Whether  or  not  you  succeed  as  a  teacher  in  get- 
ting home  study  on  the  part  of  pupils  depends 
upon  how  much  interest  you  have  in  the  subject 
you  are  teaching,  and  how  successfully  you  can 
impart  that  interest  to  boys  and  girls.  No  teacher 
ought  to  be  discouraged  because  interest  may  be 
cultivated.  Gro^vth  in  knowledge  usually  means 
growth  in  interest.  Then,  too,  we  need  to  remem- 
ber that  interest  is  one  of  the  most  easily  commu- 
nicated  of   all   the   emotions   when   it   is    genuine. 

156 


GRADED    INSTRUCTION 


You  can  not  feign  it.  If  you  have  it,  your  pupils 
will  know  it;  and  if  you  do  not  possess  it,  they 
will  feel  it. 

But  in  addition  to  your  own  interest  in  the 
subject,  there  are  certain  things  that  will  aid  you 
in  securing  Jiome  study  on  the  part  of  young 
people.  In  the  first  place,  be  very  clear  in  your 
own  mind  as  to  what  yoa  want  to  teach,  and  then 
reduce  it  to  its  simplest  terms.  In  making  assign- 
ments, deal  with  the  essentials  rather  than  non- 
essentials. When  you  make  an  assignment  be 
sure  that  it  is  within  the  capacity  of  the  pupil  to 
respond.  Individualize  and  never  generalize  in 
making  assignments.  Keep  a  careful  record  of  all 
the  assignments  made,  and  then  plan  the  way  you 
are  going  to  call  them  out  and  use  them,  to  further 
the  development  of  the  lesson. 

Success  in  getting  Jiome  study  on  the  part  of 
pupils  depends  largely  on  the  work  done  by  the 
teacher  (1)  in  making  assignments  in  a  definite 
and  specific  way;  (2)  in  arousing  the  curiosity  of 
the  pupil  by  the  manner  in  which  the  assignment 
is  made;  (3)  in  suiting  the  character  of  the  assign- 
ment to  the  interest  and  capacity  of  the  pupils; 
(4)  in  following  up  assignments  by  postal  card, 
letter  or  telephone  call,  thus  calling  the  attention 
of  the  pupil  to  the  contribution  expected;  (5)  and 
in  using  the  reports  on  assignments  in  such  a  way 
that  the  pupil  is  made  to  feel  that  he  has  made  a 
vital  contribution  to  the  lesson  development. 

157 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

Tools  that  Are  Helpful. 

Some  one  has  said  that  ''books  are  tools;  that 
every  workman  must  have  some  tools,  and  that 
with  poor  tools  he  can  not  do  his  best  work."  How 
true  this  is  of  Sunday-school  teachers.  Those  who 
have  the  best  tools  and  use  them  continually  do 
the  best  work.  The  following  list  of  books  will 
help  teachers  of  adolescents  to  do  increasingly 
better  work  from  year  to  year. 

On  the  Bible. 

"Bible  Dictionary" — Hastings  or  Davis. 

"The    One    Volume    Bible    Commentary" — Dummelow. 

"Old  Testament  Characters" — Geikie. 

"Representative  Men  of  the  Bible" — Matheson  (two 
volumes). 

"Representative  Women  of  the  Bible" — Matheson 
(one  volume). 

"Life  of  Paul" — Farrar. 

"Hours  with  the  Bible" — Geikie. 

On  the  Life  of  Christ. 

"Life  of  Christ" — Burton  and  Mathews. 

"Life  of  Christ" — Farrar  or  Stalker. 

"The  Story  of  Jesus  Christ  "—Phelps. 

"The  Hero  of  Heroes" — Horton. 

"Jesus,  the  Carpenter  of  Nazareth" — Bird. 

"The  Life  and  Times  of  the  Messiah" — Edersheim. 

Bible  Lands  and  People. 

"Historical  Geography  in  Bible  Lands" — Calkins. 
"In  the  Master's  Country" — Tarbell. 
"On  Holy  Ground" — Worcester. 
"Orientalisms  in  Bible  Lands" — Rice. 
158 


GRADED    INSTRUCTION 


Teaching  Methods. 

''The  Point  of  Contact  in  Teaching'' — DuBois. 
"How  to  Plan  a  Lesson'' — Brown. 
"Learning  to  Teach  from  the  Master  Teacher" — Mar- 
quis. 

' '  Picture  Work ' ' — Hervey. 

"Handwork  in  the   Sunday   School" — Littlefield. 

"Handwork   in   Religious   Education" — Wardle. 


159 


IX 

GRADED  EXPRESSION 

WE  have  already  noted  that  the  purpose  of 
worship  is  to  cultivate  the  feelings — it  deals 
with  the  acquisition  of  new  attitudes  of  apprecia- 
tion; that  the  purpose  of  instruction  is  intellec- 
tual— it  deals  with  the  acquisition  of  new  ideas 
and  ideals;  and  that  the  purpose  of  expression  is 
motor — it  deals  with  the  acquisition  of  new  habits 
of  action;  the  getting  of  emotional  and  intellectual 
ideas  and  ideals  over  into  human  experience 
through  self -activity.  Doctor  Littlefield  notes: 
''The  aim  of  all  true  education  is  to  put  the  indi- 
vidual into  the  possession  of  all  his  powers.  Inas- 
much as  activity  is  the  fundamental  law  of  human 
development,  the  method  by  which  one  comes  into 
possession  of  his  powers  is  self-expression. 

''The  forms  of  self-activity  are  as  varied  as  the 
phases  of  life  itself;  for  the  law  of  activity  applies 
to  everj^  faculty  of  the  soul.  The  materia"',  world 
in  which  we  live — the  home,  the  church,  the  school, 
the  community,  etc. — is  the  environment  in  which 
this  self -activity  finds  expression. ' ' '    The  more  per- 

^  Handwork  in  the  Sunday  School  (p.  2), 
160 


GRADED    EXPRESSION 


feet  the  environment  provided  by  these  factors,  the 
easier  it  is  for  life  to  express  itself  naturally,  joy- 
ously and  completely,  in  all  the  varied  forms  of 
its  activity.  The  task  of  the  church  in  its  educa- 
tional program  is  to  provide  young  people  with 
such  a  physical,  intellectual,  social  and  religious 
environment  as  will  make  it  possible  for  them  to 
come  to  their  highest  moral  and  spiritual  develop- 
ment through  constant  reaction  to  the  right  kind 
of  stimuli.  For  many  reasons  the  organized  de- 
partments and  classes  of  the  church's  school  are 
the  natural  units  through  which  to  stimulate  and 
properly  environ  the  moral  and  spiritual  develop- 
ment of  j^oung  people. 

The  departmental  worship  services,  from  week 
to  week,  provide  opportunity  for  the  cultivation  of 
the  emotional  life.  The  education  of  the  class 
period,  if  real  teaching  is  going  on,  calls  both  the 
intellect  and  the  will  into  action,  the  teacher,  in 
the  method  of  lesson  presentation,  providing  the 
stimuli  and  environment  to  which  the  pupil  reacts. 
Of  necessity,  oral,  manual,  moral  and  spiritual 
forms  of  self-expression  result.  The  pupil  ex- 
presses kis  ideas  and  ideals;  Jie  must,  for  with  him 
to  t'hi7ik  and  to  feel  is  to  act.  If  he  does  not  act, 
it  is  evident  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  environ- 
mental situation  that  is  providing  the  proper 
stimuli  to  call  forth  self-expression. 

Perhaps  it  will  be  well  for  us  to  think  through 
together  some  of  the  ways  in  which  teachers  may 

161 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

provide  such  stimuli  for  adolescents  as  will  call 
forth,  the  self-activity  of  the  pupils  during  the 
class  period.  One  of  the  best  types  of  oral  stimuli 
is  the  question.  Ask  your  questions  in  such  a  way 
that  pupils  can  not  help  but  think  and  talk  as  a 
result.  Remember  that  the  stirring  power  of  a 
question  lies  largely  in  the  principle  of  its  shock 
to  the  mind.  When  you  are  preparing  questions 
for  lesson  discussion,  ask  yourself  this  question:  Is 
this  wording  thought-producing?  Will  it  force  my 
pupils  to  think  and  act  because  of  the  intensity  of 
its  shock?  Then,  when  the  reactions  come,  as  come 
they  will,  if  your  questions  have  been  wisely  chosen 
and  well  worded,  be  prepared  to  use  the  pupil's 
reactions  in  furthering  the  development  of  the 
lesson. 

Jesus  used  illustrations  (especially  the  short 
story)  so  often  as  a  stimulus  in  teaching.  Read 
Matt.  12 :  9-13,  and  note  that  when  Jesus  healed 
the  man  with  the  withered  hand  on  the  Sabbath 
day,  and  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  criticized  him 
for  it,  he  did  not  argue  the  point  with  them.  He 
did  not  even  scold  them.  He  just  told  them  a  per- 
fectly beautiful  short  story  with  an  appeal  to  the 
feelings  and  intellect.  He  said:  ''What  man  shall 
there  be  of  you,  that  shall  have  one  sheep,  and  if 
this  fall  into  a  pit  on  the  sabbath  day,  will  he  not 
lay  hold  on  it,  and  lift  it  out?"  Then  he  just 
looked  at  them  with  soul-searching  eyes  and  added: 
''How  much  then  is  a  man  of  more  value  than  a 

162 


GRADED    EXPRESSION 


sheep !  Wherefore  it  is  lawful  to  do  good  on  the 
sabbath  day."  And  they  (his  listeners),  reacting 
to  the  story,  said:  ''Surely  he  must  have  come 
from  God." 

Debates  are  fruitful  as  a  means  of  securing  oral 
expression  in  the  development  of  lessons.  The 
author  recalls  a  class  of  Intermediate  boys  that 
challenged  a  class  of  Intermediate  girls  to  a  debate 
on  the  following  subject:  ''Resolved,  That  Solomon 
was  a  greater  king  than  David."  The  year  follow- 
ing, the  same  two  classes  used  a  forty-minute  lesson 
period  to  debate  the  question:  ''Resolved,  That 
Peter  was  a  greater  apostle  than  Paul."  The 
pupils  in  both  classes  learned  more  about  Solomon 
and  David,  Peter  and  Paul  as  a  result  of  those  two 
debates  than  they  would  have  learned  in  an  entire 
year  of  the  usual  type  of  lesson  development. 
Dramatized  Scripture  stories  are  equally  fine.  Re- 
ports on  assignments — anything  and  everything 
which  calls  into  play  the  pupil's  own  activity. 

Manual  forms  of  lesson  expression  are  equally 
effective  in  arousing  the  self-activity  of  pupils. 
Maps  (physical,  political  and  historical)  are  splen- 
did as  a  stimulus  to  self-expression.  The  author 
recalls  a  group  of  boys  who,  in  connection  with  the 
nine  months'  study  of  the  life  of  Christ  from  the 
viewpoint  of  the  four  Gospels,  made  an  electrical 
map  of  Palestine  in  the  time  of  Christ.  An  out- 
line map  of  Palestine  (14  x  18  inches)  was  mounted 
on   a   thin,    one-half-inch   board.      On   the   margin, 

163 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

where  the  Great  Sea  is,  a  typewritten  list  of  the 
principal  points  of  interest  in  connection  with  the 
Master's  life  was  mounted.  Opposite  each  place 
a  one-and-one-half -inch  brass  screw  was  placed,  the 
point  coming  out  on  the  reverse  side  of  the  board. 
Next,  the  principal  mountains,  rivers,  cities  and 
seas,  corresponding  with  the  names  on  the  margin, 
were  located  on  the  map  by  means  of  similar  brass 
screws,  the  name  being  written,  not  on  the  map, 
but  on  the  reverse  side  of  the  board  where  the 
screw  came  through.  The  map  was  then  turned 
over,  and  on  the  board  side  the  proper  city,  moun- 
tain, river  or  sea  on  the  margin  wired  with  electric 
wire  to  the  corresponding  screw  on  the  map.  A 
small  electric-light  bulb  was  then  inserted  in  the 
upper  left-hand  corner  of  the  map  where  the  words 
"Outline  Map  of  Palestine"  appear.  Two  electric 
wires  were  then  run  from  the  light  socket  to  the 
center  of  the  map  (top),  brought  through  the 
board  and  attached  to  two  pointers.  The  small, 
brass  curtain  rods  make  excellent  pointers.  When 
the  map-board  was  completed  and  wired,  it  was 
fastened  by  means  of  hinges  to  a  box  about  six 
inches  deep.  The  batteries  to  which  the  wires  were 
attached  were  fastened  in  the  lower  right-hand 
corner  of  the  box,  and  the  map-lid  closed  by  means 
of  a  hook  and  screw-eye  fastener. 

The  map  was  made  by  the  boys  and  their 
teacher  in  the  through-the-week  period  and  used  in 
the   Sunday  period  in  mastering  the   geographical 

164 


GRADED    EXPRESSION 


and  historical  background  of  the  life  of  Christ. 
The  teacher  would  take  one  of  the  pointers  and 
place  the  end  of  it  on  one  of  the  screw-heads  along 
the  margin,  opposite  the  name  of  a  city,  river, 
mountain  or  sea.  A  pupil  would  tell  what  hap- 
pened at  that  point  and  with,  the  other  pointer 
touch  the  screw  on  the  map  where  the  event 
occurred.  If  the  pupil  touched  the  right  point, 
the  electric-light  bulb  would  light  because  the  cir- 
cuit had  been  completed;  if  not,  the  pointer  went 
to  another  member  of  the  class.  This  electrical 
map  afforded  manual  expression  of  a  unique  and 
•interesting  sort  in  mastering  places  and  events  in 
connection  with  their  study  of  the  life  of  Christ. 

The  making  of  models  and  objects,  the  collect- 
ing of  curios,  etc.,  acts  also  as  a  stimulus  to  manual 
expression.  The  author  recalls  another  teacher  of 
boys  who,  in  developing  the  story  of  the  life,  af 
Paul,  outlined  his  lesson  material  in  the  form  of 
periods  or  epochs.  He  presented  Paul,  the  tent- 
maker,  learning  the  trade  of  his  father  in  his 
Tarsus  home;  Paul,  the  young  student  in  Jerusa- 
lem, sitting  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel;  Paul,  the  per- 
secutor of  the  despised  sect  known  as  Christians; 
Paul,  the  convert  to  Christianity;  Paul,  the  shep- 
herd of  the  churches  in  Asia ;  Paul  in  bonds ;  Paul, 
the  w^riter ;  Paul,  a  prisoner  in  Rome  awaiting  the 
judgment  of  Csesar. 

When  he  had  finished  the  development  of  the 
lesson,  he  turned  to  four  of  the  boys  in  the  class 

165 


YOUTH    AND   THE    CHURCH 

and  asked  each  one  of  them  to  write  during  the 
following  week  a  brief  three  or  four  hundred  word 
character  sketch  of  Paul,  with  at  least  one  para- 
graph on  each  period  of  his  wonderful  life.  Then 
he  turned  to  the  other  fellows  and  asked  each  one 
of  them  to  make  something  that  would  indicate  one 
of  these  periods  or  epochs  in  Paul's  life.  Then  he 
said:  ''Bring  them  with  you  to  the  class  when  you 
come  next  Sunday,  and  I  will  show  you  what  we 
are  going  to  do." 

When  the  class  assembled  on  the  Sunday  fol- 
lowing, the  teacher  placed  on  the  table  a  board 
(18x24  inches)  covered  with  dark  green  burlap, 
with  picture-molding  around  the  outside  edge  and 
a  screw-eye  in  the  top.  lie  took  the  four  biogra- 
phies and  with  thumb-tacks  mounted  them,  one  on 
either  side  of  the  framed  burlap  board.  Then  he 
took  the  objects  the  other  fellows  had  made,  and 
with  their  aid  fastened  ihem,  one  by  one,  to  the 
board.  To  each  a  slip  of  paper  was  attached,  indi- 
cating the  event  or  events  that  the  boys  had  in 
mind  as  they  made  their  objects. 

The  one  who  was  to  represent  Paul,  the  student, 
brought  a  scroll  on  which  the  Ten  Commandments 
were  written.  The  one  who  was  to  depict  Paul, 
the  persecutor  of  Christians,  brought  a  wooden 
sword  crudely  carved  out  in  boy  fashion.  The 
one  who  was  to  illustrate  Paul,  the  convert  to 
Christianity,  brought  a  small  tiii  lamp  with  a  wick 
in  it.     On  the  slip  of  paper  attached  to  it  were  the 

166 


GRADED    EXPRESSION 


words,  ''And  a  great  light  shone  around."  Paul, 
the  shepherd  of  the  churches  in  Asia,  was  repre- 
sented by  a  miniature  shepherd's  crook;  Paul,  in 
bonds,  by  an  iron  weight;  Paul,  the  author,  by  a 
chicken's  quill;  Paul,  the  prisoner  in  Rome,  by  a 
wooden  stock  crudely  carved  out,  and  showing  the 
places  where  the  head,  hands  and  feet  of  criminals 
in  ancient  times  were  placed.  This  bit  of  manual 
work  was  hung  up  in  the  classroom,  and  referred 
to  frequently  as  they  continued  their  study  of  the 
missionary  joUmeys  of  the  apostle  Paul.  It  served 
as  a  stimulus  in  increasing  interest  in  the  greatest 
missionary  of  the  early  church. 

Biographies,  the  answering  of  questions  in  writ- 
ten form,  the  tracing  of  journeys  on  outline  maps, 
theme  work — these,  and  many  other  forms  of 
manual  expression,  will  help  to  call  forth  the  self- 
activity  of  your  pupils. 

But  we  may  call  to  our  aid,  in  enlisting  the 
self-activity  of  pupils,  not  only  oral  and  manual 
types  of  lesson  expression,  but  moral  and  spiritual 
types  as  well.  One  splendid  teacher,  in  developing 
the  series  of  lessons  on  the  theme  "Companions  of 
Jesus"  (Intermediate  Graded  Lesson  Course),  told 
the  class,  when  they  had  finished  their  study  of  a 
number  of  these  early  followers  of  Jesus,  the  story 
of  the  Passion  Play  at  Oberammergau,  in  Bavaria. 
She  told  them  how  the  peasants  to  whom  character 
parts  have  been  assigned  try,  during  the  ten  years 
that  intervene  between  the  giving  of  this  play,  to 
12  167 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

actually  live  the  life  of  the  Bible  character  assigned 
to  them,  with  the  hope  that  ten  years  later  they 
will  so  well  depict  their  character  as  to  be  chosen, 
the  men  for  the  part  of  Christos,  the  central  figure 
in  the  Passion  Play;  and  the  women  for  the  part 
of  Mary,  the  mother  of  Jesns.  She  told  how  it  had 
molded  the  ideals  of  the  peasant  life  of  that  com- 
munity, making  their  lives  cleaner  and  finer  than 
the  lives  of  other  peasants  of  less  fortunate  vil- 
lages. Then  she  said :  "I  have  been  wondering, 
as  we  have  been  studying  this  series  of  lessons,  if 
it  would  not  help  us  if  we  were  to  try  to  actually 
live  the  life  of  these  companions  of  Jesus."  She 
asked  one  boy  to  take  the  character  Andrew;  an- 
other, James ;  another,  John  the  beloved ;  another, 
Peter;  and  so  on  until  she  had  assigned  each  boy 
a  man  character.  Then  she  said:  ''I  will  take 
Mary,  the  sister  of  Lazarus,  and  I  will  try  to  live 
as  I  think  she  would  live  if  she  was  here  in  our 
community  to-day." 

Two  weeks  later  they  were  to  report  on  the 
results.  The  boy  who  was  to  play  the  part  of 
Andrew  said  he  had  shared  his  lunch  daily  with 
another  boy  in  school,  who  was  working  his  way 
through  and  had  been  going  without.  He  had  in 
mind  Andrew's  finding  the  boy  with  the  loaves  and 
fishes,  and  bringing  him  to  Jesus.  The  boy  that 
was  to  play  the  part  of  John  the  beloved  said  he 
had  wheeled  a  paralytic  in  his  neighborhood  for 
an  hour  each  day.     The  remarkable  thing  brought 

168 


GRADED    EXPRESSION 


out  in  the  discussion  that  day  was  the  fact  that 
the  paralytic  had  lived  in  his  block  for  years,  and 
he  had  never  thought  to  offer  to  take  him  out  for 
an  hour  before.  The  lad  that  was  to  take  the  part 
of  Peter  said  he  had  held  his  tongue  and  his  fists 
when  both  were  in  danger  of  hurting  people  (a 
hot-tempered  boy,  who  usually  settled  all  his  griev- 
ances with  his  fists)  ;  and  so  the  talking  it  over 
went  round  the  group.  Finally  the  teacher  told  of 
some  deeds  of  mercy  that  she  had  done  during  the 
past  two  weeks,  that  she  felt  somehow  Mary  would 
have  found  time  to  do,  if  she  had  been  living  in 
their  community. 

A  bit  dangerous,  you  say  (such  a  form  of  self- 
expression)  ?  I  grant  it.  Teachers  and  pupils 
might  easily  burlesque  a  thing  of  that  sort  and 
make  it  of  infinite  harm  to  the  group ;  but  it  was 
the  sincerity  and  earnestness  with  which  both 
teacher  and  pupils  entered  into  the  spirit  of  the 
thing  that  made  it  of  value  as  a  moral  and  spir- 
itual type  of  lesson  expression. 

Tasks  that  have  to  do  with  individual  growth 
in  the  things  of  the  spirit;  service  activities  (both 
individual  and  group)  ;  missionary  and  benevolent 
work — all  these  things  will  help  teachers  to  trans- 
form lessons  into  life  through  self-expression. 

How  TO  Get  Results. 

Plan   in   advance   the   ways   in   which   you    are 
going  to  enlist  the  self -activity  of  your  pupils.     Be 
13  169 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

specific  in  what  you  ask  them  to  do;  and  when 
pupils  make  a  perfectly  fine  contribution  of  any 
kind,  show  your  appreciation  by  commending  and 
using  it. 

Do  what  you  require  your  pupils  to  do,  and  do 
it  first.  If  you  are  going  to  ask  them  to  make  a 
harmony  of  the  Gospels,  make  yours  in  advance. 
The  teacher  is  a  guide;  and  a  guide  knows,  because 
he  has  traveled  that  way  before. 

Do  not  ask  pupils  to  volunteer  to  draw  a  map, 
outline  a  lesson,  etc.  Take  it  for  granted  that  you 
have  their  co-operation.  Indicate  that  you  need 
certain  things  for  lessons  that  are  to  follow,  and 
ask  one  or  more  of  the  group  to  work  with  you  in 
getting  things  ready. 

An  educational  exhibit  of  completed  manual 
work  will  help  to  enlist  co-operation  in  the  future. 
Special  recognition  by  an  honor  seal,  or  something 
of  that  sort,  on  promotion  cards  and  certificates, 
will  serve  as  an  incentive  in  the  Intermediate  and 
Senior  departments.  The  graded  credit  system  and 
scholarships  plans  suggested  in  Chapters  II.  and 
III.  are  also  worthy  incentives. 

Remember,  too,  that  your  own  example  is  a 
mighty  factor.  If  you  expect  service  from  your 
pupils,  be  a  serving  Christian  yourself.  Let  the 
joy  you  find  in  service  glow  in  your  face  and 
radiate  in  your  life.  It  will  call  forth  an  answer- 
ing joy  and  enthusiasm  for  service  on  the  part  of 
your  pupils. 

170 


GRADED    EXPRESSION 


Social  and  Service  Activities. 

But  the  instruction  of  the  lesson  period  is  only 
a  part  of  the  educational  work  of  the  church 
through  its  church  school.  The  education  of  the 
''between  lessons"  period  is  equally  important.  The 
church  school  touches  the  physical,  intellectual, 
social  and  service  life  of  boys  and  girls;  and  self- 
expression  along  all  of  these  lines  must  be  called 
into  play  continually  if  pupils  are  to  grow  into  the 
fullness  of  the  stature  of  the  Christ.  The  church 
in  its  educational  program  must  provide  a  fitting 
environment  for  the  expression  of  the  social  in- 
stincts; for  the  basic  principle  in  work  with  young 
people  is  the  recognition  of  the  social  element  in 
education.  Class  and  department  social  and  service 
good  times,  especially  if  young  people  have  a  large 
share  in  planning  and  conducting  such  activities, 
mean  growth  in  social  ideals. 

One  departmental  activity  a  quarter  is  the  mini- 
mum in  the  program  of  work  with  young  people  in 
most  churches.  The  following  activities  are  merely 
suggestive : 

1.  Annual  membership  campaign.  Usually  in 
the  month  of  October.  Survey  the  community. 
Secure  the  names  and  addresses  of  all  young  people 
not  attending  church  and  Sunday  school.  Give 
each  class  a  certain  number  of  the  names  and 
addresses,  and  see  how  many  they  can  win  to 
Fegular  attendance  during  the  month  that  follows. 

171 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

Those  not  won  that  month  may  be  given  to  another 
class  the  next  month,  etc. 

2.  Annual  sale  of  Red  Cross  Christmas  seals  for 
the  tubercular  hospital  fund.  Take  the  church 
(or,  in  small  toAvns,  the  Telephone)  directory.  Ap- 
portion alphabetically  its  pages  to  the  various 
classes  in  the  departments  of  the  Secondary  Divi- 
sion, with  the  understanding  that  the  sale  of 
stamps  (seals)  is  to  begin  the  middle  of  November. 
Members  of  each  class  are  to  get  in  touch  with 
persons  whose  names  are  on  the  pages  assigned  to 
them,  and  sell  them  their  Red  Cross  seals  for 
Christmas  packages.  Turn  over  to  the  Red  Cross 
the  funds  received. 

3.  Be  responsible  for  a  community  Christmas 
tree  each  year  in  some  neglected  district.  Secure 
from  the  members  of  the  church  filled  baskets  to 
go  to  needy  families,  and  that  may  be  given  out  in 
connection  with  the  tree  on  Christmas  eve.  Set 
the  different  classes  at  work  filling  surprise  bags 
for  the  children  of  the  poor.  Secure  donations  of 
fruit  and  nuts  from  merchants,  to  be  given  out  on 
Christmas  eve.  In  fact,  let  the  young  people  plan 
and  carry  out  the  whole  community  Christmas- 
tree  festival. 

4.  Annual  department  birthday  social.  Cele- 
brate at  one  time  all  the  birthdays  for  the  year,  by 
grouping  together  the  X'upils  bom  in  a  given 
month.  Appoint  in  advance  a  captain  for  each 
group.     Then  have  each  leader  call  his  group  to- 

172 


GRADED    EXPRESSION 


gether  and  work  out  a  surprise  stunt  that  will  indi- 
cate, without  telling,  the  month  in  which  the  group 
was  bom.     For  illustration: 

January  might  take  "The  Firsf  or  "Snowbound,'* 
etc. 

February:  "Washington's  Birthday,''  "St.  Valen- 
tine," etc. 

March:  "The  Vernal  Equinox,"  "Inauguration  Day," 
etc. 

April:  "April  Showers,"  "Easter,"  "April  Fool,"  etc. 

May:  "May  Apple,"  "May  Day,"  "Mothers'  Day," 
etc. 

Each  group  should  get  together  at  least  once  to 
practice  their  charade  or  stunt.  On  the  night  of 
the  social  the  captain  of  each  group  will  announce 
the  number  of  acts  or  scenes  in  the  charade  his 
group  is  putting  on,  and  the  number  of  syllables 
in  the  word,  or  words  in  the  phrase,  they  have  in 
mind.  Each  group  should  be  given  five  minutes 
in  which  to  put  their  stunt  on,  and  the  other 
groups  three  minutes  in  which  to  guess  what  the 
month  is  and  what  phrase  or  word  the  group  for 
that  month  has  in  mind.  The  months  ought  not  to 
be  called  in  their  calendar  order.  A  blue  ribbon 
may  be  awarded  for  the  most  clever  stunt. 

5.  Fathers'  and  Sons'  banquet  or  spread.  The 
fathers  to  entertain  their  sons  one  year,  and  vice 
versa.  In  one  held  recently  in  the  down-town  sec- 
tion of  a  city  in  the  Central  States  only  five  sons 
brought  their  own  fathers. 

173 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

6.  Mothers'  Day'  party  or  banquet.  The  moth- 
ers to  entertain  their  daughters,  and  vice  versa;  or 
the  whole  department,  both  boys  and  girls,  may 
entertain  together.  Usually  a  short  program  of 
music,  recitations  and  stunts,  followed  by  games 
and  refreshments.  If  a  banquet,  then  some  such 
theme  as  "Getting  Each  Other's  Viewpoint," 
around  which  the  toasts  may  be  arranged. 

7.  The  Fourth  of  July  Christmas  tree.  Get  in 
touch  with  some  mission  field  of  your  own  com- 
munion and  find  out  thy  little  things  they  need 
and  can  use  in  their  work.  Place  the  list  on  the 
bulletin-board  or  give  them  out  in  written  form 
to  the  presidents  of  organized  classes.  Announce 
that  on  Fourth  of  July  morning,  afternoon  or 
evening,  the  gifts  (one  from  each  member  in  the 
department)  are  to  be  brought,  packed  in  the  mis- 
sionary box,  and  shipped  to  the  mission  station  in 
need.  It  will  arrive  sometime  near  Christmas. 
Sometimes  this  may  be  held  in  connection  with  a 
Fourth  of  July  breakfast  for  young  people,  the 
group  going  in  a  body,  after  the  box  has  been  packed, 
to  some  park  or  playground  to  direct  games  for  chil- 
dren and  to  help  to  provide  a  sane  and  safe 
Fourth. 

8.  Annual  banquet  for  young  people.  Themes: 
''In  Training,"  ''Measuring  Up,"  "Prepared- 
ness," "Rebuilding  the  Wall,"  etc.  The  following 
program   will   be   suggestive   as   to   how   boys   and 


The   second    Sunday   in    May   is    Mothers'    Day. 
174 


GRADED    EXPRESSION 


girls  may  be  developed  tlirough  planning  for  and 
participating  in  affairs  of  this  type: 

Banquet  Theme:   ** MEASURING  UP/' 

Toastmaster — An  older  boy  or  girl. 

Song — * '  America. ' ' 

Invocation. 

EATS. 

Class  and  department  ''yells"  and  "slogans.'' 

Toast  of  Welcome   (teen-age  boy  or  girl). 

Response  (by  the  pastor,  or  a  member  of  the  church 
board). 

Toast — "The  Girl  that  Measures  Up"  (by  an  older 
girl)- 

Toast — "The  Boy  that  Measures  Up"  (by  an  older 
boy). 

Music — (duet  or  solo  by  boys  or  girls). 

Toast — "The  Teacher  that  Measures  Up"  (by  one  of 
the  teachers). 

Toast — "The  Class  that  Measures  Up"  (by  an  older 
boy  or  girl). 

Toast — "The  Department  that  Measures  Up"  (by  the 
counselor). 

Special  Music. 

Toast — "The  School  that  Measures  Up"  (by  the  gen- 
eral superintendent). 

Toast — "The  Life  that  Measures  Up"  (by  the  pastor). 

Farewell  Song. 

Benediction. 

9.  Participation  in  city- wide,  county  and  State 
Older  Boys'  and  Girls'  Conferences;  and  in  the 
Secondary  Division  Teen-age  Boys'  and  Girls'  Cru- 
sade   for    community    betterment.      See    Chapters 

175 


YOUTH   AND   THE   CHURCH 

XIII.    and   XIV.    of   ''The   Boy   and   the   Sunday 
School,"  by  Alexander,  for  plans  and  program. 

10.  Participation  in  denominational  young  peo- 
ple's conferences,  missionary  conferences,  summer 
schools  and  assemblies.  "Write  to  your  own  church 
or  Sunday-school  headquarters  for  plans  and  pro- 
grams. 


176 


X 

THE  ULTIMATE  GOAL 

WE  have  thought  through  together  the  origin 
and  growth  of  the  Secondary  Division  of 
the  church's  school  with  relation  to  the  youth  of  the 
church.  "We  have  considered  the  nature  of  the 
pupils  with  whom  we  are  to  work,  and  the  aims  we 
hope  to  realize  in  the  life  of  young  people  as  we 
put  our  hands  to  the  task  of  molding  human  clay 
into  the  fullness  of  the  stature  (physical,  intellec- 
tual, social  and  spiritual)  of  the  Christ.  We  have 
talked  of  the  organization,  the  equipment,  the  pro- 
gram and  the  activities  through  which  we  hope  to 
realize  in  the  life  of  the  youth  of  the  church  the 
ideals  of  Jesus  in  building  among  his  fellow-men 
the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 

Perhaps  it  would  be  well  for  us  in  this  closing 
chapter  to  think  through  together  some  fhings  that 
are  deeper  and  more  fundamental  than  any  of  the 
things  we  have  considered  hitherto,  and  that  must 
be  in  the  life  of  the  leadersJiip  of  the  youth  of  the 
church  if  we  are  to  realize  the  ultimate  goal  of  the 
church  for  its  youth;  namely,  to  win  to  Christ,  to 
hold  and  train  for  his  service,  and  to  enlist  in  his 

177 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

Kingdom-building  enterprise  in  the  home,  church, 
community  and  world. 

The  first  emphasis  must  of  necessity  be  on  the 
"inner  life"  of  the  leadership  of  young  peo- 
ple. In  these  days  there  is  an  overwhelming  ten- 
dency to  stress  the  external.  Efficiency!  Effi- 
ciency! We  hear  it  on  every  hand!  But  no 
external  efficiency,  no  skill  in  management  and 
organization,  no  equipment,  no  special  knowledge 
or  knack  in  handling  either  individuals  or  groups 
of  adolescents,  will  ever  make  up  for  an  inward 
lack  of  the  spirit  of  Christ.  Nowhere  is  it  more 
true  than  in  dealing  with  young  people  that  'Hhe 
letter  killetJi;  but  the  spirit  maketh  alive/'  For 
whenever  and  wherever  the  spirit  of  CJirist  is  en- 
shrined in  the  heart  of  the  leadership  of  young 
people — no  matter  how  inadequate  the  organiza- 
tion and  equipment,  how  poor  the  environment,  how 
scant  the  opportunity  for  the  growth  and  training 
of  youth  in  service — there  Christ  is,  and  there  his 
life-giving  power  which  perfects  all  human  imper- 
fections manifests  itself.  The  spirit  of  Christ  is 
not  something  external.  It  is  an  inward  disposi- 
tion that  determines  one's  attitude  toward  God, 
toward  man,  and  toward  the  problems  of  human 
experience.  It  has  to  do  with  the  roots  of  life, 
determining  conduct  and  ripening  character. 

The  growth  and  development  of  one's  own 
spiritual  life  is  not  something  we  can  take  for 
granted;  for  while  it  is  true  that  man  is  by  nature 

178 


THE    ULTIMATE    GOAL 


religious,  it  is  also  true  that  the  religious  instinct 
is  subject  to  the  same  laws  of  growth  and  develop- 
ment that  govern  all  other  human  powers.  Exer- 
cise means  growth;  the  lack  of  exercise,  atrophy 
and  death. 

Is  your  own  spiritual  Jife  growing  from  year 
to  year?  Bible  study,  prayer  and  meditation, 
daily  Christian  living — these  are  the  avenues 
through  which  the  soul  grows  Godward.  Teachers 
and  leaders  of  young  people  ought  to  be  the  happi- 
est people  in  the  world.  In  the  preparation  of 
lessons  from  week  to  week  they  should  find  real 
joy,  for  lessons  studied  prayerfully  and  conscien- 
tiously afford  opportunity  not  only  for  guiding  the 
growth  and  development  of  boys  and  girls,  but  a 
steady  and  systematic  growth  in  one's  own  spir- 
itual life  as  well.  Love  3^our  task;  be  passionately 
interested  in  your  work,  for  the  Gospel  story  can 
never  become  ''glad  tidings"  to  others  except 
through  the  personal  manifestation  of  Christ's  own 
miracle-working  power  in  your  soul. 

Do  you  pray  often,  going  apart,  as  Jesus  did, 
into  some  place  of  quiet  and  solitude,  and  lifting 
your  voice  to  God  in  prayer  for  your  own  life  that 
it  may  be  the  human  instrument  used  of  him  for 
divine  purposes?  If  not,  then  you  are  neglecting 
the  means  of  growth  which  Jesus  in  his  OAvn  life 
here  on  earth  used  most.  Make  a  prayer  list  of 
your  own  pupils.  Study  their  individual  lives, 
their  strength  and  weaknesses.     Go  often  into  your 

179 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

own  closet  apart,  and  there  lift  their  names,  one  by 
one,  to  God  in  prayer.  Read  the  seventeenth  chap- 
ter of  John,  and  note  how  Jesus  prayed  for  those 
whom  the  Father  had  entrusted  to  him. 

Are  you  weak,  conscious  of  your  own  inability 
to  live  daily  as  a  child  of  God  should  live?  Take 
it  to  him  in  prayer,  for  your  stren^h  cometh  from 
him.  Do  not  pray  to  be  excused  because  of  some 
human  frailty  or  inability.  Pray  to  be  used  abun- 
dantly, for  strength  cometh  through  exercise. 
Phillips  Brooks  says:  '^Do  not  pray  for  easy  lives. 
Pray  to  be  stronger  than  you  are.  Do  not  pray 
for  tasks  equal  to  your  powers.  Pray  for  powers 
equal  to  your  tasks!  Then  the  doing  of  your  work 
shall  be  no  miracle.  But  you  shall  he  a  miracle; 
every  day  you  shall  wonder  at  yourself,  at  the 
richness  of  life  which  has  come  in  you  by  the  grace 
of  God." 

Teachers  and  leaders  of  young  people  must  not 
only  be  sincerely  and  devoutly  spiritual,  but  they 
must  have  a  faith  that  is  genuine  and  steadfast. 
In  these  days  of  scientific  investigation,  when  God, 
Christ  and  the  human  soul  are  being  placed  in  the 
crucible  of  laboratory  experimentation  and  observa- 
tion, the  teachers  of  the  young  must  have  the  kind 
of  a  faith  that  shines  through,  and  is  triumphant 
over,  all  doubts.  Suppose  that  science  should  dis- 
cover that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  God  and  the 
human  soul?  Would  it  kill  faith,  hope  and  love  in 
humanity?    Would  it  still  the  longing  in  your  life 

180 


THE    ULTIMATE    GOAL 


for  companionsliip  with  an  all-wise  Father,  the  love 
of  home  and  country,  the  joys  and  sorrows  of  your 
every-day  life,  your  appreciation  of  the  beautiful, 
or  the  feeling  of  sympathy  that  comes  through 
fellowship  in  suffering?  No!  These  things  can 
not  be  disturbed  by  scientific  investigation,  because 
they  are  part  of  the  warp  and  woof  of  humanity. 
Eichard  Watson  Gilder  says: 

'^  Wherever   there   are   tears   and   sighs, 
Wherever  there  are  children's  eyes, 
Where   man   calls   man   his   brother 
And  loves,  as  himself,  another, 
Christ  lives.'' 

The  task  of  the  teacher  and  leader  of  young 
people  is  to  live  Christ  a  little  better  every  day, 
and  they  will  feel  God,  for  Christ  and  the  Father 
are  one.  "Other  foundation  can  no  man  lay 
[scientist  or  othei^wise]  than  that  which  is  laid, 
which  is  Jesus  Christ."  Do  you  associate  closely 
enough  with  Christ  to  say  with  Paul,  ''For  I  know 
him  whom  I  have  believed,  and  am  persuaded  that 
he  is  able  to  guard  that  which  I  have  committed 
unto  him  against  that  day"?  Try  it;  it  will  give 
you  the  triumphant  faith,  and  help  you  to  lead 
boys  and  girls  through  the  critical  years  of  adoles- 
cence. 

The  leadership  of  youth  must  have  not  only  a 
faith  that  is  sure  and  steadfast;  but  a  hope  that 
is  eternal,  that  knows  no  such  thing  as  discourage- 
ment, that  sees  no  insurmountable  difficulties,  that 

181 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

radiates  joy  and  enthusiasm  in  service,  that  out  of 
weakness  and  inefficiency  brings  strength  and  per- 
fection. Youth  in  its  very  nature  demands  a 
leadership  that  is  interested,  optimistic  and  enthu- 
siastic. Young  people  know  no  such  thing  a^ 
failure.  With  them  there  is  no  limit  of  energy,  of 
capacity  or  of  power;  and  they  will  not  follow  long 
a  leadership  that  is  uninterested,  that  does  little 
or  nothing,  or  that  fails  to  bring  to  a  successful 
completion  things  that  have  been  begun.  They 
want  to  be  challenged  to  do  big  things  in  a  big 
way;  and  they  need  to  be  guided,  directed  and  en- 
couraged by  a  wise  and  enthusiastic  leadership  to 
bring  to  a  successful  fruition  every  enterprise  that 
is  begun. 

Then,  too,  the  teachers  and  leaders  of  young 
people  must  have  love  for  Christ,  his  church  and 
his  Kingdom ;  and  it  must  be  love  of  a  sacrificial 
sort.  Jesus  expressed  the  kind  of  love  we  must 
have  when  he  said  to  his  disciples,  "Love  one 
another  as  I  have  loved  you ; ' '  and  then  he  gave 
his  life  to  evidence  how  great  was  that  love.  If 
you  are  unwilling  to  deny  yourself;  unwdlling  to 
forget  your  own  desires,  pleasures,  ambitions,  for 
the  good  of  the  individual,  the  church  and  the 
Kingdom — you  can  not  hope  to  lead  adolescents 
into  the  fullness  of  the  abundant  life.  The  test  of 
your  efficiency  is  not  how  many  facts  you  have 
taught  your  pupils,  but  what  boys  and  girls  under 
your    leadership    have    become.      Phillips    Brooks 

182 


THE    ULTIMATE    GOAL 


says:  ''Greater  than  anything  else"  in  education, 
vastly  greater  than  any  question  about  how  many 
facts  a  teacher  may  have  taught  his  pupils,  there 
must  always  be  this  other  question:  Into  what  pres- 
ence has  he  introduced  him;  before  what  standard 
has  he  made  his  pupil  stand'?  In  the  answer  to 
that  question  are  all  the  deepest  issues  of  the 
pupil's  life."  Are  you  introducing  your  boys  and 
girls  to  Him  from  year  to  year  with  ever-increasing 
power  and  skill?  Are  you  helping  them  to  realize 
in  their  own  lives  the  Christ  ideal  in  life  and  con- 
duct? Love,  of  a  sacrificial  sort,  embodying  itself 
in  your  life  will  do  more  to  vitalize  and  personalize 
the  spirit  of  Christ  in  the  lives  of  young  people 
than  any  other  force.  Read  the  thirteenth  chapter 
of  First  Corinthians  and  ask  yourself  how  many 
of  the  attributes  of  love  are  finding  increasing  ex- 
pression in  your  own  daily  life.  What  you  are  will 
determine  in  a  large  measure  what  you  are  able  to 
help  your  pupils  to  become. 

The  goal  of  Christian  education  is  to  produce, 
through  worship,  instruction  and  expression, 
groups  of  trained,  consecrated  Christian  lives  dedi- 
cated to  the  task  of  building  in  this  world  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  It  can  only  be  realized  through 
a  leadership  that  is  on  fire  with  the  love  and  pas- 
sion of  Christ  for  the  souls  of  men  everywhere.  It 
requires  a  leadership  that  feels,  that  knows,  that 
cares.  When  in  all  the  body '  of  Christ  we  shall 
come  to   have   groups   of  knowing,   feeling,   caring 

183 


YOUTH    AND    THE    CHURCH 

teachers  who  see  the  whole  task  of  the  church  with 
relation  to  the  Kingdom-building  enterprise  of  our 
Lord,  and  their  share  in  that  task,  then  we  will  be 
in  position  to  realize  in  the  life  of  young  people 
the  view  of  a  world  church,  a  world  program,  and 
a  world  kingdom. 

Just  now  the  world  is  feeling  after  God  as  it 
has  not  felt  before;  just  now  the  world  is  calling 
upon  God  as  it  has  not  called  before.  America  is 
calling,  war-cursed  Europe  is  calling,  Asia's  needy 
millions  are  calling,  the  dark-skinned  Africans  are 
calling,  the  whole  of  Latin  America  is  calling,  the 
islands  of  the  seas  are  calling;  while  the  coming  of 
the  Kingdom,  the  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the 
brotherhood  of  man  waits  for  the  teachers  of  youtJi 
to  so  live,  teach  and  serve  as  to  inspire  the  youth  of 
the  church  to  bring  to  pass  in  this  world  the  King- 
dom of  God. 

Leaders  of  youth,  purge  therefore  yourselves. 
Live  purely,  love  passionately,  serve  supremely,  for 
''the  King's  business  requireth  haste." 


184 


A  CLASSIFIED  LIST  OF  BOOKS  FOR 

TEACHERS  OF  INTERMEDIATE, 

SENIOR    AND    YOUNG 

PEOPLE'S  CLASSES 

ADOLESCENT    PSYCHOLOGY. 

Richardson,    The  Beligious   Eduoation   of   Adolescents,   The 

Abingdon  Press,  New  York  City. 
Slattery,  The  Girl  in  Her  Teens,  Pilgrim  Press,  Boston. 
Moxcey,   Girlhood  mid  Character,  The  Abingdon  Press,  Nfew 

York  City. 
Slattery,  The  Girl  and  Her  Religion,  Pilgrim  Press,  Boston. 
McKeever,  Training  the  Girl,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York 

City. 
Slattery,    The    Girl    and    Her    Community,    Pilgrim    Press, 

Boston. 
Espey,  Leaders  of  Girls,  The  Abingdon  Press,  New  York  City. 
Lowry,  Herself,  Forbes  &  Company,  Chicago. 
Hall,  From  Youth  to  Manhood,  Association  Press,  New  York 

City. 
I'orbush,    The   Boy   Problem,    The    Westminster    Press,    New 

York  City. 
Burr,    Adolescent    Boyhood,    The    Seminar    Publishing    Co., 

Springfield,  Mass. 
Lowry,  Himself,  Forbes  &  Company,  Chicago. 
McKeever,  Training  the  Boy,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York 

City. 
Rafferty,  Brothering  the  Boy,  Griffith  &  Rowland  Press,  Phil- 
adelphia. 

185 


A    CLASSIFIED    LIST    OF    BOOKS 


Alexander,  The  Sunday  School  and  the  Teens,  Association 
Press,  New  York  City. 

Alexander,  The  Teens  and  the  Eural  Sunday  School,  Asso- 
ciation Press,  New  York  City. 

King,  The  High  School  Age,  The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company, 
Indianapolis,  Ind. 

METHODS. 

Athearn,  The  Church  School,  The  Pilgrim  Press,  Boston. 

Foster,  Problems  of  Intermediate  and  Senior  Teachers,  The 
Westminster  Press,  Philadelphia. 

Alexander,  The  Boy  and  the  Sunday  School,  Association 
Press,   New  York  City. 

Foster,  The  Intermediate  DepartTnent,  The  "Westminster 
Press,  Philadelphia. 

The  Standard  Teacher  Training  Course  (three  years),  obtain- 
able from  any  of  the  publishing  companies. 

MISSIONARY  METHODS. 

Diffendorfer,  Missionary  Education  in  Home  and  School,  The 
Abingdon  Press,  New  York  City. 

Beard,  Graded  Missionary  Education  in  the  Church  School, 
The  Griffith  &  Rowland  Press,  Philadelphia. 

Hutchins,  Graded  Social  Service  in  the  Sunday  School,  The 
University  of  Chicago  Press,  Chicago. 

Trull,  Missionary  Methods  for  Sunday  School  Workers,  Mis- 
sionary Education  Movement,  New  York  City. 

Trull  and  Stowell,  The  Sunday  School  Teacher  and  the  Pro- 
gram of  Jesus,  Missionary  Education  Movement,  New 
York  City. 

Trull,  Missionary  Programs  and  Incidents,  Missionary  Edu- 
cation Movement,  New  York  City. 


186 


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